In February 2025, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wildlife staff received a report of a Bald Eagle banded in New York that was photographed alive and well in the state of Georgia. This bird was rescued as a hatch-year male from the nearshore waters of Lake Erie in Chautauqua County in May of 2021, likely having fledged from a nearby clifftop nest.
The bird underwent surgery for a fractured humerus at Cornell University’s Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital before being transferred to Messinger Woods Wildlife Care and Education in Holland, NY for rehabilitation where it made a full recovery.
On Aug. 18, 2021, DEC wildlife staff banded the eagle and on Sept. 19, 2021, staff at Messinger Woods released it near where it was originally rescued.
In February 2025 DEC received a report of this eagle alive and well in Georgia. Staff from Birds Georgia, a chapter of the National Audubon Society, photographed the bird in October 2024 as it perched on a sand dune along the Cumberland Island National Seashore.
While it is not unusual for an eagle to migrate south for the winter, we can’t be sure where exactly this bird has been since its release in 2021. It may stay in Georgia or migrate north each year.
Wildlife staff band eagles to help gather valuable information on movements, ranges, survival, and mortality. Each bird receives two bands, one on each leg: a state color band with a field-readable alphanumeric code and a silver federal band with a unique nine-digit number.
If this eagle had not been banded, we would have never known if it survived or where it went.
Read more about Bald Eagles in New York State.
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