A young bald eagle is recovering in Cookville, N.B. after a near-death experience.

The three-month-old bald eagle was brought to the Atlantic Wildlife Institute Saturday, after a resident became concerned about its welfare and called the Department of Natural Resources.

Staff at the Atlantic Wildlife Institute say the bird most likely left the nest too soon and it could not fly or get food for about a week.

“Testing its wings, maybe fell out of the nest, or a gust of wind, or just didn't get that proper flight, so it's not completely unusual that we will get the calls of a first flight bird landing on the ground and not getting back up,” says Pam Novak, of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute.

Novak says it’s not an overstatement to say that the bird was near death when it arrived at the institute Saturday.

“He was really lethargic, he's quite emaciated which means he's starving,” says Novak. “Just really weak, where he was drooping his wings, not able to stand upright and so we really weren’t sure how he was going to do.”

Bree Crawford is the DNR forest ranger that got the call about the baby eagle Friday.

He says the department normally tries to let nature takes its course, but sometimes they need to step in.

“We left it for the day to see whether the parents had come to recover it and the following day they hadn't, so we went to pick the eagle up,” says Crawford.

Novak says the bird is now eating and has developed a good appetite.

“He's really responsive, he's standing upright, able to hold his wings and he's eating a lot of food,” says Novak. “So he's able to process and keep eating, so we are really happy with the progress so far.”

The next step in the eagle’s recovery is to fly in a controlled environment. Then it will be reintroduced to the area where it was found in hopes it will soar on its own.

With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell