When a Bald Eagle Is On a Crosswalk in Bayonne

In early November, a bald eagle landed at Ninth Street and Avenue A in Bayonne and took a limping walk around the neighborhood. Bayonne is not a typical place for an eagle and walking is not a typical way for an eagle to travel.

At that time, November 10, the eagle was not captured or examined up close, but appeared to be injured or very weak.

Then, on November 17, the same eagle was located in a yard in Staten Island. It was unable to fly. The homeowner called the Staten Island Zoo, which contacted the Raptor Trust in Millington, NJ where the bird was brought.




The bird was banded as a nestling in Virginia in 2009. It was reported to be blind in one eye from an old injury.

Bald eagles were removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007. They are currently listed as endangered (breeding season) and threatened (non-breeding season) in New Jersey. But they are an important success story for New Jersey's endangered species program. In 1982, there was one nest in the state and in 2016 there were 172 eagle nests.

The Bayonne bird is reported to be gaining strength. The Raptor Trust suspects that lead poisoning may be what caused the bird's weakness.  Eagles when scavenging can get lead poisoning from eating an animal that was shot with lead ammunition as well as drinking lead in water.