‘Miracle’ eagle who broke wing thriving after parents nursed it back to health

The white-tailed eagle was injured in a storm as a baby after the tree its family was nesting in fell down in July 2023.

His sibling survived unscathed and was able to fly soon after but Kinky was seen by bird watchers struggling and walking around dragging his broken wing.

The bird - who was named by a local skipper who noticed the bump on his wing - was nursed back to health by his doting parents on the Isle of Ulva, off the coast of Mull, West Scotland.

They were seen bringing the chick - who was stuck on the floor as he was unable to reach higher ground - food.

Onlookers were stunned to then discover the bird being cared for a year later in the same way.

The bird has amazed Dave Sexton, who was the RSPB’s Mull officer for 21 years until he retired last August.

Dave, 64, said: “We noticed the bird was struggling and thought he was not going to survive.

“He couldn't fly. As an eagle, if you’ve not got two working wings, you can’t do anything.

“We observed him and were interested to see the adults would fly in with fish and he would hobble over and feed.

“This continued until autumn, the end of the season, but then the boats stop, the weather gets worse and we lost track of the family at that point.”

Fast-forward to spring 2024 and Dave, out on an eagle-watching trip for Mull Charters, came around the corner of Ulva and heard a “distinctive” screech for food - Kinky was still there.

Dave said: “I was hoping to find the parent birds at the new nest, getting ready for that season, when I heard a call begging for food. You hear this sound in spring and early summer and it is a very distinctive, screechy call.

“To our amazement, in flew this juvenile eagle with a very distinctive big bump on the left wing.

“It flew in and chased the parent, who offered fish to the chick - although it was no longer a chick but what’s called a juvenile or immature bird.

“That was the bird we had previously seen on the ground dragging its wing.

“Miraculously, the bone must have fused to an extent where he was able to take off - that in itself was pretty amazing.”

It was clear the bird had been cared for by his parents.

Normally, chicks disperse away from the parents and go off exploring, while the parents breed again.

Dave said: “This chick had clearly spent all winter with his parents and was now still being fed.

“This continued all the rest of last summer and the parents didn't attempt to breed - which is quite unusual - because they still had this chick in tow, looking for food.”

Dave says he has never experienced anything like this situation.

He said: “I have talked to lots of white-tailed eagle experts around Europe and we have never known behavior where adults are still caring for a chick more than a year on.”

As spring arrived, Dave and the RSPB are putting a call out for bird watchers and Scots along the west coast to keep an eye out for the plucky bird.

Dave said: “It is a rather wonky-looking white-tailed eagle with a big kink in his wing.

“It is very distinctive as they usually have a very flat profile when soaring, like a big plank of wood.

“It would be amazing when we get out in the boats in the next few weeks to find out he is still with his parents but I would be amazing if they still tolerate him - they’ve got to get on and breed and I think their patience would be wearing out a bit by now as he is two years old and that’s way beyond normal.”

Dave suspects he will have trouble hunting but should subsist on washed-up carcasses, deer and other carry, adding: “There is every chance he has made it through this winter into spring”.

He thinks the parents continued to bring their chick food because of that screech.

Dave said: “Chicks have fallen out of nests and their parents have fed them on the ground until they're able to fly.

“After a fall and injury like that, I would have almost expected him to crawl off into the bracken and die.

“It just so happened he was out in the open and visible and had the strength of character to survive and keep going despite the injury.

Tourists had sighted the bird almost daily last summer and he became a bit of a "celebrity”, says Dave, with fans around the world.

So far one person has reached out with a potential sighting.

Dave hopes the call-out will get the public engaged and raise awareness of the creatures, which face threats from game farmers who shoot and poison them when they cross onto their farmland.

He added: “For me, it was a whole new behavior - and I have been studying and watching birds on Mull for more than 20 years.

“It is important that we are still learning new things about these birds.

“We think of them as hard-wired, unemotional beings that get on, breed and move on, and yet for whatever reason and without being overly anthropomorphic, were able to suspend breeding and keep feeding him.

“It was a nice, heart-warming thing to watch.”

Despite retiring, Dave has no plans of stopping his work with the RSPB. He continues to volunteer for the charity and was recently appointed an ambassador.

He said: “It’s such a love and hobby for me. I’ve been doing it so long I can’t really stop anyway.

“I want to keep track of how these amazing birds are doing.”

Anyone who spots Kinky is being asked to contact Sexton at david.sexton@rspb.org.uk, via X @skyeandfrisa or tag RSPB Scotland on social media.