Nova Scotia wildlife centre waiting on good weather to release wandering golden eagle

Hope for Wildlife is looking after a golden eagle. (Source: Facebook/Hope for Wildlife)

Maybe it was sick. Maybe it was just exhausted.

Whatever the reason, a golden eagle flapped down in the middle of a road in central Prince Edward Island one late afternoon in November.

Golden eagles are not usually found in the Maritimes, and Hope for Wildlife in Seaforth, N.S., is waiting on good weather to return this special bird to the skies.

It was found on Greys Road in Belle River, P.E.I., grounded and unwilling to fly, but now seems healthy and strong.

The bird has had a remarkable journey so far.

Candy Gallant of P.E.I. Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc. got a call from the passerby who found the raptor and, while waiting for someone to retrieve it, used her coat to shoo the bird to the side of the road so it wouldn't get hit.

The woman sent her husband home to get a big bucket or a bin to try and catch the bird because there seemed something wrong with it, said Gallant, adding she also got videos of the bird from the rescuer.

"So her husband left and came back with a big blanket, but he couldn't find a bin, and they guarded this eagle that was sometimes running down the road, flapping," she said.

"They run like a cartoon. They're very, very funny-looking when they run, because their feet are very, very far apart, and they just kind of rock back and forth on their feet with their wings out."

About four to five hours later, the bird that Gallant said was "trying very hard to fly and using the road as a runway for flight," was rescued by a Humane Society officer, using "big leather gloves and the biggest, softest duvet."

It stayed with Gallant for a couple of weeks, and she said she didn't know the bird was a golden eagle until she took it over to Hope for Wildlife.

"If I've seen one before, I didn't know I was seeing a golden eagle," she said.

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Hope Swinimer, founder of the centre, said the bird got a full exam -- looking for anything from rat poisoning to avian influenza -- and nothing was wrong. So it's possible the raptor was simply exhausted from flying or was working through something and needed time to recover.

Swinimer said she's seen three golden eagles in her life, so getting to see this one was exciting.

"That he got well is even more amazing."

The volunteers at Hope for Wildlife put the golden eagle in a flight cage that also had a bald eagle so the raptors could keep each other company while being watched closely, she said.

The birds never fight, and they're pretty compatible, she added.

"The golden eagle looks more streamlined," she said. "I know that's a weird way to describe them, but he just seems like he's made for speed. But very beautiful, beautiful animals."

Nick Lund, a network manager for the conservation group Maine Audubon, said golden eagles are about the same size as their bald eagle cousins and the two are sometimes confused -- especially young bald eagles that don't yet have the white head and tail yet.

Golden eagles measure about 70 to 84 centimetres in length and weigh up to six kilograms. Their wingspan extends around two metres.

They're famous for being fierce predators, Lund said.

Unlike bald eagles, which eat mostly fish and carrion, golden eagles are known for catching live prey including rabbits, hares, ground squirrels and prairie dogs, he said. They're also known to occasionally take much larger prey, including sheep, deer, and occasionally domestic livestock, he added.

Golden eagles breed in western North America, from the mountains of central Mexico up through Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Alaska. The species also ranges across Asia and parts of Europe and North Africa.

These raptors may be more common in winter on the East Coast than people realize, Lund said.

"Some -- not all -- golden eagles migrate great distances in the winter, looking to leave frozen areas in the north and find better areas to hunt," he said.

"They wander into the eastern parts of North America including, rarely, the Maritime provinces. This bird is likely a wandering migrant from Western Canada. So, not necessarily a vagrant, just a wanderer."

Swinimer, whose centre has seen a nearly 11 per cent increase in rescues last year, is waiting on a week of sunny skies and calm winds to get the golden eagle on its way. But if the weather doesn't co-operate, she said the centre will keep the bird all winter.

"But thank heavens he worked through whatever he had, got strong while here and now is ready to continue his journey."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 1, 2025.

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