By Jessica Guay, Heather Lang

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- One of the eaglets from the nest at the U.S. Steel plant in West Mifflin is rehabbing from "significant damage to his flight feathers."

The Wildlife Center run by Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh is working with the Tamarack Wildlife Center in Crawford County to rehabilitate the first-year fledgling . The goal is to eventually release him back into the wild, HARP said.

Both of the young bald eagles in the U.S. Steel nest fledged on June 26.

It was the live webcam watching the nest that alerted birdwatchers that one of the eagles was hurt. HARP officials said experts saw on the cam the eagle was down and unable to fly.

Experts moved in to rescue the bird and get him the care he needed.

After a medical exam, HARP said rehabbers diagnosed the eagle with mild shoulder inflammation and severe damage to his tail feathers and left-wing feathers. He will need to molt new feathers and learn to fly again before he can be released, HARP said.

It is a privilege for the Tamarack team to be treating a fledgling eagle "USS-4" from the nest monitored by the US Steel...

"He just fledged a little earlier than anticipated and got caught on the ground, which did eventually cause damage to the wings and to the feathers on his tail as well," said Katie Kefalos, director of the HARP's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. "Unfortunately, because of the damage, he's not able to fly yet and properly fledge, so that's why he needs to be in long-term care until he's ready."

Until then, the young eagle will be housed in a specially-built enclosure at Tamarack Wildlife Center. The HARP team said he is being hand-fed twice a day. Plus, his enclosure allows the bird to practice flapping, bathing, jumping and other eagle behaviors.

Lauren Gibbons said she loves caring for all different types of wildlife at the center, but she'll never forget helping our national bird.

"We assessed all his damage to the feathers and got him stabilized for the night. It was a great experience, I enjoy working with eagles," Gibbons said.

After caring for the eagle for a week, Gibbons coordinated transportation for the eagle to go to Tamarack Wildlife Center. 

Rehabbers are doing their best so this magnificent bird can spread his wings and fly some day.

"In his case, he's going to have to be in care for a while, to molt out all of those feathers and grow new strong ones and really practice building his flight muscles since he is a baby and he's never flown, to get that strength to get ready to go back into the wild," Gibbons said.

Carol Holmgren, the executive director of Tamarack Wildlife Center, said the eagle is stable and they're waiting for test results.

"It is a privilege to treat this magnificent bird," Holmgren said. "Rehabilitation for this bird may involve a year in treatment. He has multiple issues that need to be addressed prior to release. We are hopeful for his eventual release, though we can never guarantee release of a patient until all release criteria are met."

Don German, U.S. Steel's Irvin plant manager, said he watched the eagle on the live cam as it was struggling, and he said the game commission and rehabbers quickly jumped into action to help. He said without the live nest camera, it would have been tragic. The eagle hatched back in April. The eagle has one sibling, which is still in the nest.

U.S. Steel will host a live streamed event on Thursday featuring those involved with the eagle's rescue, including HARP and Tamarack Wildlife Center. The time has not been determined yet.

Jessica Guay joined KDKA as a reporter in February 2021. Before joining KDKA, Jessica was a morning anchor and reporter at WJAC in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She was also an anchor and reporter at WCHS in Charleston, West Virginia, and at WTOV in Steubenville, Ohio.

First published on July 11, 2022 / 1:45 PM

© 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

©2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.