Conservationists Save Baby Bald Eagle After Bird’s Parent Accidentally Knocks Chick Out of Nest

A baby bald eagle is back safe at home thanks to a team of conservationists who rescued the chick after its parent accidentally knocked the eaglet out of their nest.

In late April, the baby bird was sleeping on one of its parents’ feet when the larger animal “took off” and “accidentally knocked the chick out of the nest,” research ecologist Peter Sharpe told CNN.

Sharpe, the outlet noted, oversees the bald eagle restoration project on the Channel Islands in California, where he and his team monitor bald eagle nests. The group is watching over 21 nests this season, per CNN.

Sharpe told the outlet that the chick — born on April 6 — fell into a gully somewhere between 10 to 15 feet below its nest.

Video footage of the incident shared online by Explore Live Nature Cams shows the moment the small animal was accidentally kicked out of its home

A day after the eaglet fell, Sharpe and two others found the bird and performed a health check on the chick before returning it to its nest.

Sharpe told CNN that the chick didn’t “seem injured” and it had “been eating well and sleeping well.”

This is not the conservationist’s first baby eagle rescue. These animals, Sharpe explained, are “part of a restoration project that’s been going on for over 40 years.”American Bald Eagles Come Back from Near Extinction, Have Quadrupled Their Numbers Since 2009

“A lot of effort’s been put into restoring the eagles,” he added. “The loss of one chick in a season can have quite a big impact. We’re just trying to maximize the number of chicks that reach maturity.”

Sharpe told CNN that he would return to the eagle chick’s nest in a few weeks to place an identification band on the bird’s leg, measure the animal, and try to determine the eaglet’s sex.