Kane County Eaglets Will Have To Be Hand-Raised

UPDATED 06/03/11 1:13 p.m.

BATAVIA, Ill. (CBS) -- Bald eagle parents have rejected a man made replacement for a wind torn nest near Batavia, so it looks like their eagle babies will have to be hand-raised.

As WBBM Newsradio 780's John Cody reports, Dawn Keller, director of Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, said placed the babies in a manmade nest a couple of trees away from the original one, but the parents rejected the new nest and stopped feeding them in the new place.

"It could have been that it wasn't high enough. It could have been that it wasn't at the top of a tree. But we got it as high as we could have. We didn't think it was prudent to put it in the original nesting tree, because that nest tree was really thin and kind of spindly," Keller said.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's John Cody reports

The 6-week-old eaglets survived a storm that tossed them from their nest about 80 feet up. Humans built the artificial nest at on the property of the Mooseheart Home, and placed the eaglets.

Keller said previously that Flint Creek Wildlife Rehab might have to raise the two eaglets, even though such a situation is not ideal.

Now, Keller says Flint Creek specialists will teach the eaglets to fly, then hunt -- before their release in about four months in Kane County.

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