Bald Eagle Rescue On Site of Chambers Architects Design, Lake Athens, Texas

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Above: The young male Bald Eagle rescued in 2013 by Tom Pothoff at his Dogwood Trail Development, where the Lake Athens home designed by Stephen B. Chambers Architects is built. Efforts by Texas Parks and Wildlife have increased eagles from 4 to 200 pairs in Texas.

October 2013-February 2015

The beak of a Bald Eagle does not appear large in this stock photography, until compared with a man’s hand, in photo, above.

Tom Potthoff jumps in his Kawasaki Mule and drives along the fence line of his East Texas development, Dogwood Trail, to enjoy the brisk early October morning. He works to keep his property as natural and undisturbed as possible. Today, he will be amazed at how wild it still is. He’s about a third of the way down the fence near the Lake Athens spillway when he spots a sizable bird flapping its wings close to the enormous tree he calls his Granddaddy Pine. He can’t see the bird’s head and assumes it is a vulture. When Tom is ten feet from the bird, it stops its flapping, drops a wing to the ground, pops up its large white head with a yellow hooked beak and looks at him. Tom’s jaw drops. It’s an American Bald Eagle. He realizes he should leave this national treasure alone. There’s probably a nest nearby. Tom first noticed eagles on his property six months ago, ‘patrolling’ a cove near the spillway for fish.

On the way back to his lot, Tom looks for the eagle. He doesn’t see it and assumes all is okay. Back at the site for his new home,Tom meets with his wife, Anne, homebuilder Danny Tidmore and a landscape architect about how to save and move his larger dogwoods away from the construction. The weekend lake home was designed by Stephen B. Chambers Architects (link here to sketches for the home). All those collaborating on how to prepare the site for construction want to see the back portion of the property, so Anne takes them on a tour. This time, they see the Bald Eagle and notice he is injured and unable to fly over a fence. The landscaping contractor says he will inform Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWL) about the eagle when he gets back to his office.

Around 4:30 p.m. Tom receives a phone call from an eagle rescue organization in San Antonio. He is informed that an experienced rescuer lives in Ennis and that he should wait for him to pinpoint the spot where he found the bird. The rescuer arrives at 6:30 p.m. It is already dark, but the Potthoffs and neighbors begin a search to find the eagle. When they are near where it was last seen, they hear his chirping. A neighbor makes it to the top of a hill and looks across the Lake Athens emergency spillway. The eagle is standing on a large pile of fallen trees. His silhouette in the distance is imposing, at more than two hundred yards away. Tom and the rescuer walk nearer and crawl into the brush pile to extricate the bird. The rescuer cautions Tom that eagle talons can crush a man’s femur. But, if they cover the bird’s eyes, it will calm down and submit. The rescuer throws a blanket over the eagle’s head and steps in to sweep up the bird, grabbing his legs…the eagle is landed. This Bald Eagle is a small male, three feet tall with a wingspan of 6-7 feet. It had already been identified and banded by the TPWL for tracking purposes.

These national treasures mate for life and are protected by park services around the U.S.

The rescuer takes the wrapped animal back to the jeep to puts him in a cage for the ride back to Ennis and ultimately to the San Antonio clinic. We will keep our readers posted about the rescue organization and how the Potthoff eagle is doing, when we make a trip to San Antonio in December. When the bird is rehabilitated, he will be returned to Lake Athens. Since they mate for life, hopefully the female will still be there, waiting for her partner to come home.

Update: February 2015…We’re very sad to report that this young male eagle died at the raptor center of its injuries. However, the first two videos, below, show the recent rescue of an injured female Bald Eagle and its release a few days ago by Last Chance Forever Bird of Prey Conservancy in San Antonio, Texas, on the Pothoff property at Lake Athens, Texas. We wish the Pothoffs continued success in future eagle rescues and releases at their sanctuary for these beautiful creatures. We believe there will be many more such opportunities on their East Texas property because of the continuous efforts of the TPWL. We are reminded by Tom’s reports that eagles use his property for nesting: with sensitive planning, architects, landscape professionals and builders can make a positive contribution to the preservation of wildlife habitats when we undertake any new construction.

We are encouraged by the expertise and continued service of the Texas Parks and Wildlife service on behalf of Texas’ endangered animals. The video, below, produced by TPWL illuminates how the service rescued this American symbol from the brink of extinction–Texas now has 200 mating pairs, up from 4 pairs.

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