Boy Scouts have a long-standing and well-deserved reputation when it comes to doing good deeds.
From helping little old ladies cross the street to launching community service projects, scouts are always there to lend a hand.
Last week was no exception.
The hearty lads of Boy Scout Troop #366 happened upon a juvenile Bald Eagle with a broken wing Friday evening while backpacking from the Oxford United Methodist Church on E. Burdick St. to the 125-acre Camp Agawam on W. Clarkston Road in Orion Township.
The injured eagle was found in the state-owned Bald Mountain Recreation Area near the camp around 7 p.m., according to Scout Leader Bill Cowles.
‘It appeared to have hit the high tension wires that are up there,? he said. ‘It was laying right underneath them.?
Cowles estimated the eagle was probably around two years old because its head feathers were ‘pretty much all brown? and it had a dark brown beak, all of which denotes immaturity.
‘They don’t turn white and get a yellow beak until they’re about (four to five) years old,? he explained.
Because of its coloring, the scouts originally mistook it for a hawk or Golden Eagle, but Cowles was able to correctly identify it.
Cowles wrapped the injured eagle in his Carhartt jacket and brought it back to camp. ‘I didn’t want to leave it out there,? he said.
The eagle was handed over to a raptor (bird of prey) rehabilitator based in Oakland County, who does not wish to be identified in order to avoid publicity.