Clear blue skies and cheering crowds greeted a pair of bald eagles Tuesday as they made a return to the wild. The release marked the end of their stay at the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
For one of them, it was a repeat visit. To the veterinarians at the wildlife center in Waynesboro, the bald eagles are known only as their marking letters, N-X and K-S. But thousands of eagle fans around the world know N-X as one of three orphans rescued from Norfolk, after their mother died in a collision with an airplane.
Just last month, the wildlife center released all three of the eagles from the Norfolk Botanical Garden. But one of them, a female called N-X, flew only a few hundreds yards before landing in a field, apparently exhausted. She was returned to the wildlife center to build up her strength and flying skills and on Tuesday, was returned to the wild for good.
The release site was Berkeley Plantation along the James River. It is right across the water from a wildlife refuge that is home to one of the largest eagle roosts in the nation.
N-X was outfitted with a lightweight GPS transmitter, which will allow state biologists to monitor the movements of the bird for the next two years. The wildlife center's website will soon have a link to that tracking device as well.
