Purchasing a gift card to a local hardware store for your favorite nesting eagle pair?<\/p>\n
There’s no need to do so; after all, eagles don’t use gift cards, nor patronize hardware stores, and when it comes to building sturdy and substantial nests, one well-placed stick at a time? The magnificent raptors are elegant experts and have been so for literal eons.<\/p>\n
Still, sometimes an eaglet will get a bit too close to a nest’s edge, which is what happened in the early hours of April 24 on Santa Cruz Island.<\/p>\n
An Explore.org-helmed camera keeps a watchful, around-the-clock gaze on the Fraser Point nest, and when viewers noticed one of the chicks had fallen out, they immediately alerted the Institute for Wildlife Studies<\/a>, a nonprofit organization “(d)edicated to conserving wildlife, habitat, and biodiversity.”<\/p>\n Erin Weiner, the bald eagle project lead for the institute, quickly headed to the island to review the situation and observe how the chick was doing. <\/p>\n A message on the institute’s site shared what would transpire after Erin reached the nest: “If he is healthy she will attempt to return him to the nest. If he is injured, she’s prepared to transport him to a wildlife care facility.”<\/p>\n That transport wasn’t required: The eagle expert deemed the chick, who is called Ryder, to be in good form before gingerly placing him back with this family.<\/p>\n Lauren Tillotson of the Nature Conservancy was another key member of the rescue mission: She “held the ladder steady”<\/a> for Erin as she returned the precious youngster to his parents and siblings.<\/p>\n Ryder is the third chick to hatch this season for mated pair Andor and Cruz; the arrivals of siblings Sasha and Zuma proceeded the little eaglet’s April 2 hatching.<\/p>\n The family is loved by nature fans around California and beyond, including many regular viewers who keep a near-constant “eagle eye” on the Fraser Point nest cam.<\/p>\n It’s this close watch that led to the rescue of the youngest chick, a little one that is back home, and snug, with the Fraser Point eagle family.<\/p>\n