White-tailed Eagles will soon be regulars in our centre. Last week we said goodbye to another patient again – the bird which is a member of the Steller's Sea Eagles family is often confused by many with the Eagle. It differs from other birds of prey in size – it’s the biggest Accipitriforme living on our continent. The bird personifies majesty, aggression, grace and perfection – many believe that Polish national emblem uses the bird as a symbol. The magnificence and beauty of this species makes its treatment and rehabilitation even more significant and unique. Since a number of these birds is falling down each individual is worth its weight in gold, especially when we consider long and expensive treatment. We do our best to save and bring back to nature every injured white-tailed eagle and we know it’s a difficult task. The worrying thing is the fact, that it’s relatively easy to catch the bird and transport it to a clinic. There are many reasons, however, the most common one being unfortunate poisoning like in this last case. A scenario is always similar to this: contaminated carcass as the food chain link tempted an unaware raptor and similarly to the previous Eagle the latter was also found near Lubaczów area. The fact that the bird was relatively at young age and the short time during which it was transported to our centre hugely increased the chances of its survival. In next to no time the bird returned to its form and it was released back into nature as usual near the fish ponds in Starzawa. Being able to see the two-metre wings rising into the air was the best reward we could get for all the effort made and all the costs of treatment. Sadly, we have noticed that each year there is a growing tendency in the number of White-tailed Eagles delivered to our clinic. Two or three years ago we treated just one or two birds during the season. Last year we had four eagles brought to our clinic. After saying goodbye to the last bird we can be sure that all of them managed to regain strength and return back to wildlife leaving to us nice memories and huge satisfaction.

See more photos in the Photo gallery.