Two local men spending their weekend at the lake got a lot more than they expected when trying to photograph a nearby eagle’s nest.
Dieter Finke and Victor Vliet went to Allatoona Lake, near Cartersville, to photograph a Pro Wakeboard competition. While they were there, the two decided to stop by the nest and get a few shots of the birds.
Finke says he took a few photos of the nest and was heading back to the campsite when he heard a loud snap. Finke says he saw a tree limb break and a bald eagle crash through the tree and fall into the water below.
The eagle made it to shore, but Finke says he noticed the bird appeared to be injured, so he called Georgia Wildlife Animal Rescue.
“After looking at the bird and getting close enough to really observe it, we figured out it couldn’t fly. It wasn’t flying away from us, and we also figured out that something was wrong with its left leg. It was sort of turned under,” Finke said.
Chet Powell, with Georgia Wildlife Animal Rescue, told Finke and Vliet how to safely secure the eagle until help could get there.
“(It was) probably a once in a lifetime experience. Not very many people would ever even get to even 100 feet of a bald eagle, let alone hold one,” Finke said
Finke says he got the eagle back to his campsite where a wildlife rescuer took over.
The bird had a preliminary exam at a Cobb County veterinarian clinic before it was taken to a specialty center at Auburn University.
Experts are still trying to determine the extent of the eagle’s injury to figure out what is next.
