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July 2008 Featured Story Sidebar
Flightless bird helps others soar
 Indiana’s resident bald eagle, C-52, has never taken flight or experienced the freedom our nation’s bird symbolizes. A genetic defect prevents him from spreading his right wing and living in the wild. But as an ambassador for Indiana’s successful bald eagle reintroduction program, the 20-year-old bird has helped bring other bald eagles back to Indiana and his species back from the brink of extinction.
C-52 is a part of the bald eagle success story as a symbol of survival, said Maria Abel-Crecelius, an interpretive naturalist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources at the Patoka Lake Visitors Center. The center has been C-52’s home for most of his life.
C-52 has allowed thousands of visitors each year to see a living example of our national bird up close. His presence at Patoka and visits to the Indiana State Fair and other events over the years have helped educate Hoosiers about the state’s bald eagle project. And the interpretive programs with C-52 have encouraged Hoosiers to make donations to the Indiana Nongame Fund which funded the restoration and various other nongame projects. But without Indiana’s restoration project, Abel-Crecelius noted C-52 probably would not have survived to see his 20th birthday last month, or even his first.
In early June of 1988, the eagle hatched in a nest in southeast Alaska. Weeks later, federal and Alaskan wildlife officials gathered him and other hatchlings from other nests for the Indiana restoration program. The program brought 73 eaglets to Indiana from 1985-89.
C-52 was tagged and transported to Lake Monroe south of Bloomington and placed in a cage with two other eaglets. In their new “nest home,” the young were fed and watched to prepare them for release into an isolated area of Lake Monroe. By late August of 1988, though, as the eagles began flapping their wings and getting their strength to take flight, it became clear something was wrong with C-52’s right wing.
He was examined and sent to a raptor rehabilitation and research center in Minnesota for further tests. The staff there determined C-52 was not releasable. Because of a genetic defect to his right wing, he would never be able to fly and wouldn’t survive on his own.
 The DNR’s Patoka Lake Visitor Center then applied and received the necessary permits to use C-52 in interpretive and educational programs. On Jan. 23, 1989, C-52 returned to Indiana and took up permanent residence at Patoka.
Abel-Crecelius, an Orange County REMC consumer, became C-52’s permanent caretaker. The two have been together ever since.
Had he not been taken from his nest in Alaska, she noted, the bird’s inability to fly probably would have gone unnoticed in the wild. His parents would have abandoned the nest, and he would have died either in it or falling from it.
The DNR staff cares for C-52, providing safe shelter and food. He makes two regular visits to a special veterinarian in Louisville each year. Protected from man and the elements, C-52 can expect to live for 40 to 50 years. The bird has become used to the typical daily routines and the sound of Abel-Crecelius’ voice, but she noted, “He still doesn’t like being handled.”
And for Abel-Crecelius, even after almost 20 years of handling C-52, she doesn’t want to ascribe a “personality” to him — as people do with a pet. Though she knows what some of the chittering sounds he makes might mean, she doesn’t take for granted just what is perched on her protected arm and the power the bird possesses. C-52 could still cause severe injuries with his talons or his beak. “This bird is here in a very unnatural situation,” she said. “But he’s still wild. He wants to fly.”
She said she’s encouraged by the amount of interest visitors have in C-52. And she’s excited at the stories visitors share about seeing the wild bald eagles nesting around Patoka. Five nests have been spotted there this year. “To be here with these birds is a marvelous adventure,” she said. As bald eagles continue increasing in number, it’s an adventure more and more Hoosiers have an opportunity to share in.
 Maria Abel-Crecelius, an interpretive
naturalist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, holds Bald
Eagle C-52 at the Patoka Lake Visitor Center where thousands of
visitors each year have a chance to see a bald eagle up close. C-52
just celebrated his 20th birthday.
Photos by Richard G. Biever
Support C-52
To support Bald Eagle C-52 directly, make a check payable to “Indiana Natural Resources Foundation,” specify “C-52 Fund” in the memo, and send it to: Natural Resources Foundation, attn: C-52 Fund, 402 W. Washington St., #W256, Indianapolis, IN 46204.
For more information about C-52, here’s a link to the Department of Natural Resources.
Here’s a link to the July 2008 featured story: “The eagle has landed”
Written By: eceditor
Date Posted: 6/19/2008
Number of Views: 299
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