On Saturday, Dec. 18, photographer Jose Echevarria was driving along Highway 161 in Northern California, when he came across what appeared to be a wounded animal in the road. Here's how the rest transpired in both his words and photographs:
"At around 8AM yesterday (Dec. 17, 2011) on my second day of taking pictures of the bald eagles at Klamath NWR, there was an injured but fully alert bald eagle on the middle of highway 161w as I was heading eastbound towards lower Klamath. Presumably the eagle was on his fly-out route from the Bear Valley hills towards the lakes in lower Klamath NWR but Highway 161 happens to be under their flight-path and he probably got side-swiped while in low flight by a moving vehicle as this was on an open area with no power lines.
"I moved the eagle away from the middle of the road and he just looked at me without a fight while I was placing him a few feet curbside and signaled any approaching traffic to slow down. The Klamath NWR phone-lines this early in the morning gave their answering service thus i called 911 and the dispatcher connected me to the local authorities who then sent two Highway Patrol officers to his rescue.
I hope he is well taken care of and will recover from his injuries. Thanks to everyone involved from the dispatcher to the highway patrol officers who made the effort and also realize that our national symbol deserves a 911 rescue. "
By Garrison Frost
HOTSPOT: Flyover of California's Birds and Biodiversity
California is a global biodiversity hotspots, with one of the greatest concentrations of living species on Earth.
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