Bald Eagle Gets Hit on Lincoln Highway
By Julia A. Keirns
(This article was written for The Delphos Herald Newspaper and published in July, 2018)
Friday, July 13, 2018 was not a good day for one specific driver or the bald eagle she found lying on the side of the road.
“I first passed him on Lincoln Highway around 7:15 am,” she stated. “I noticed something off the side of the road but did not realize it was an eagle until after I went past. I turned around and drove back to see if it was injured.”
“When I pulled up near him he fluttered his wings and tried to fly. I immediately knew he had been hit. There were still feathers laying on the road, so I knew it must have been recent. Just then two state highway patrol officers approached my car.”
“I asked if someone had already called to report it and they said they were just stopping to see if I had car trouble. I pointed to the eagle and I don’t think they were expecting that,” she continued.
“The officers approached the eagle and he fluttered closer to the road. They both immediately began directing traffic and protecting him from being hit again,” she said.
“At 7:38 am, he raised his head up, spread his wings out completely opened up, took his last breath and died.”
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, just a short 40 years ago, the bald eagle was in danger of extinction mainly due to the use of DDT, an insecticide used by farmers that caused the egg shells to be so thin the eggs would break before they could hatch; but also due to poachers and other poisonous pesticides. DDT was banned, and the bald eagle has slowly been making a comeback; not only across the United States, but right here in Van Wert and Putnam Counties. Nests are popping up regularly. Photos of bald eagles fill the Facebook pages of all ages of users.
The bald eagle has been the national symbol of the United States since 1782. It is found on the Great Seal, the Presidential Seal, on several coins and paper money, postage stamps and countless other places. The bald eagle conveys power, and symbolizes freedom, courage, honesty, and truthful principles.
In 1967, the bald eagle ended up on the Endangered Species List. Federal laws, such as the Bald Eagle Protection Act, protect the bald eagle, and have led to the increase of the population. Populations have improved so much that the bald eagle was removed from the Endangered Species List in 2007.
Van Wert and Putnam County, Ohio currently have several bald eagle nests, and most of these nests have eaglets that have hatched and are currently fledging. It takes about 35 days for an egg to hatch. The young remain in the nest up to 12 weeks before they fledge (fly from the nest). A young eagle will be all brown for the first years of its life and is sometimes mistaken for a hawk. The feathers of the head do not begin to turn white until the bird is near four or five years old.
“Watching those two officers protect that beautiful creature in its last moments,” recalled the driver, “the symbol of so many things good in this country is something I will never forget.”
No comments had been received from the State Highway Patrol or the DNR at the time of this writing (July 2018).