Bald eagles at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant unharmed after eating fish with hook attached to it
There was quite a scare in the bald eagle nest at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant in West Mifflin when fishing tackle ended up in a meal for the majestic birds.
The moment was captured on one of PixCam's live webcam, and a local wildlife rehabilitator is highlighting how harmful and even deadly fishing gear can be for birds.
Bald eagle nest scare
On Tuesday morning, Irvin the eagle brought a fish with a fishing line and a hook attached to it to the nest. Irvin and fledgling eagle Ocho began to eat the fish.
"My heart was in my throat when I saw that there was fishing line and all of that in the meal that he was delivering, and holy cow, bless his heart for getting that away from Ocho. And at one point, Ocho even had some line he was starting to swallow," said Carol Holmgren, executive director and wildlife rehabilitator at the Tamarack Wildlife Center.
Holmgren said it's a big sigh of relief that a disaster was averted. However, this isn't the first time this has happened to U.S. Steel eagles in West Mifflin.
Last year, Lucky the eaglet got tangled in a fishing line, and Claire freed the little one from the line. And in 2023, eaglet Hop pulled out a huge hook from a fish. Both incidents were captured on camera.
Holmgren has seen the dangers up close. She said fishing tackle can cause entanglement or swallowing injuries.
"A year ago, we treated a loon, a common loon, that on X-ray had ingested a fishing hook and that was caught in her digestive tract, and the line was still coming out her throat. Fortunately, we could have surgery, and she successfully came through surgery and was released," she said.
Some birds aren't so lucky.
"We did have a heartbreaker about 10 years ago that actually was with an eaglet, a little bird that had not even hatched out of the nest," Holmgren said. "X-rays showed that he had that hook caught in his digestive tract. We did arrange for surgery, but unfortunately, the damage was just too great."
Holmgren wants this recent scare for Irvin and Ocho to be a learning experience for anglers.
"If you personally have line that's gotten entangled on shore, or fishing hooks and lures and things, clean it up. And if you've got some time to clean up something that somebody else has left, boy, that makes a difference," she said.
She also urges fishing enthusiasts to be mindful of the tackle they use.
"Avoid things that are containing lead, either lead sinkers or fishing tackle, can really help, because we do also see lead poisoning in some of our fish-eating birds," said Holmgren.
