Bald eagle rescued from ice in Waukegan Harbor
GLEN ELLYN, Ill. (CBS) – A bald eagle stuck and left lifeless on an ice floe – that was the call that came in from Waukegan Harbor Sunday morning.
But a team from Chicago Bird Collision Monitors swooped in to try and help.
As CBS 2's Chris Tye reported Monday night, it was just 12 hours into the New Year when James Tibensky found himself in unfamiliar waters – on a mission.
"They can be pretty scared and pretty dangerous," Tibensky said.
He was talking about bald eagles. The one on the ice floe was 3 years old.
"The biggest think was my own safety," Tibensky said. "I've never had a bird tip me over in a kayak, but it could happen - and with the cold water, that could be scary."
Tibensky had brought an extra kayak to ferry the bird to shore. But sweeping it into the boat had more risk than the plan B he'd devised in real time.
"I broke loose the floe it was on and pushed it with my kayak - we call It bulldozing - pushed it with my kayak across the harbor," he said.
Tibensky said the process took about five minutes. He pushed the piece of ice with the eagle to shore, and there, other volunteers with nets brought the eagle to a warm car.
The eagle was taken to the Willowbrook Wildlife Center clinic. Experts said the bird was thin, wet, exhausted and disheveled upon arrival.
Tye asked Dr. Sarah Reich of the Willowbrook Wildlife Center how she would grade Tibensky's decision-making.
"Oh, A-plus," Reich said. "I would never have thought of it."
It's Reich's job to nurse back to health the patient the bloody beak - known as patient 23-00001 at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center.
"It's still very early to tell, but so far, seems to be doing very well," Reich said.
Even a day later – the bald eagle's gender is unknown. Its appetite is building.
But the bird's likelihood of surviving another night on the ice was not high.
"Probably another night or so and this bird wouldn't have made it," Reich said.
The bald eagle was once on the doorstep of extinction. There are far more of them now than there were just 10 years ago.
"People are so attached to the symbol of freedom, and the United States and everything like that," Reich said.
That symbol of freedom is now a symbol of a bird-loving community coming together. And while as a general rule, they don't name rescues, they may have made an exception this time.
"We jokingly said it could be Jack or Rose from the Titanic," Reich said.
It was an icy save - and a cool, even cold, display of bird lovers coming together.
"We want him or her to live - so probably lean closer to Rose than Jack," said Reich, "because Rose survived the Titanic."
The bald eagle will require two months of care, at least, before it can be released back into the wild. It will be in a cage by day - and behind an appropriately-colored red, white, and blue blanket by night.
Meanwhile, tests are still being done to determine what made the bird sick. Lead poisoning is often the cause of these symptoms.