“Tiny weird animal” accidentally ends up in Eagle’s NEST and plans a great Escape
While watching the Redding Eaglecam on YouTube, Terri Lhuillier noticed something strange. “[I] saw something yellow in the middle of the nest,” Lhuillier, founder and director of Friends of the Redding Eagles, told The Dodo. “I wasn’t sure what it was at first.”
After zooming in and watching closely, Lhuillier realized the mystery object was actually a turtle whom one of the eagles, Guardian, had carried into the nest. To her relief, Lhuillier saw the confused little turtle moving around, so he seemed to be OK.
“This was the first time we’ve ever seen a turtle brought into the nest,” Lhuillier said. “There are turtles in the ponds near the nest, but we hadn’t seen the eagles bring one in before.”
Guardian’s mate, Liberty, didn’t appear to know what to do with the unusual guest and pecked at him a bit. But the turtle remained calm and stayed in the nest for about two hours before making a decision: He was going to run for it.
“Liberty was in the nest at the time the turtle made its move to escape,” Lhuillier said. “She seemed a little distracted by a possible intruder that’s been coming into their nest the last few days. She threw her beak into the air and began trilling or chortling. That’s when the turtle decided to make its move.”
The turtle dashed over to the edge of the nest, and much to everyone’s surprise, Liberty made no move to try and convince her guest to stay.
“Liberty turned and saw the turtle moving, but she didn’t go after it, which was unusual,” Lhuillier said. “She just watched it as it made its way through the sticks to the edge of the nest. She did seem to react when it went over the edge of the nest. I don’t think either Liberty or the turtle expected that to happen.”
The brave little turtle leapt over the side of the nest and likely landed in the blackberry bushes directly below, cushioning his fall. Ultimately it seems that Liberty respected the turtle’s bravery and made no attempts to foil his escape plan.
The turtle’s arrival and eventual escape made for an exciting day on the Redding Eaglecam, and now everyone who knows and loves Liberty and Guardian are just waiting to see what might happen next.
