Our Hero!

Our very own Sampson Metzgar heroically rescued a bald eagle amidst the solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024! Sampson is our 19-year-old avian expert – he’s been volunteering at Pocono Wildlife for almost three years and has been working as an intern since graduating from Stroudsburg High School in 2023. He’d do anything to help a bird, and the day of the eclipse was no exception.

An Eventful Day

Sampson and Janine Tancredi, the executive director of Pocono Wildife were busy releasing a red-tailed hawk when they received a call about a distressed bald eagle near the Delaware River. Janine called Susan Downing, the other executive director, in for backup. When the trio arrived down by the river, the eagle was perched on a branch, unable to fly, but as they approached, it panicked and attempted to fly away and plummeted into the river.

Sampson didn’t waste a second. In his own words: “At that point, I sprinted ahead, slid down and jumped off a 10-foot bank into the water, swimming against the current to get up close to her, but upon seeing me she tried to get away and was able to coast herself closer to another fallen branch that was in the water. I grabbed onto the same branch, got my heavy-set welding gloves back on — because they started weighing me down halfway through the swim — and then I grabbed her legs and talons. She definitely tried to get me, but she wasn’t horrible. Holding her legs, I eventually hoisted her up to Susan, who was able to grab her and take her from there.”

No Small Feat

In Janine’s words: “It was a spontaneous decision, but it was a good thing, because the current was pretty fast and would definitely have taken her away. In hindsight, it may have been a careless decision, probably. But it was also something that was very brave. In the water, you do actually have more control because because eagles don’t swim or want to die, and Sampson immediately went for her legs so she couldn’t talon him and and she didn’t have maneuverability. What people don’t know is that it is incredibly hard to hold an eagle. You have to use all of your strength. Sampson is incredibly strong, but it had to be even harder in the water, which he did and was really amazing. He knows what he is doing. He was ready with a hood, which is used to help them decompress.”

A Fateful Name

After a once in a lifetime rescue on a once in a lifetime day, there was really only one name we could give our new bald eagle friend: Eclipse.

Sampson had this to say about her: “Eclipse is actually in great condition. She has a very minor break on her metacarpal, which to us is like the wrist area, but to them it is in the wing area. She had some scraping and bleeding, but not horrible, all very superficial. She’s fully mature and very aggressive. And I’d guesstimate that she is still on the younger side, and probably under 10 years of age.”

An Urgent Discovery

After bringing Eclipse back to Pocono Wildlife to x-ray her and give her further examinations, they found her brood patch, which is a bare spot on eagle parents that they use to press against their eggs for warmth. To our bird experts this meant one thing: there were eggs or eaglets out there missing their mother and a very lonely male eagle taking on single parenthood. We have to get Eclipse back to the wild so she can reunite with her family! Our team has gotten right down to work helping Eclipse heal as fast as possible, so stay tuned for updates on her recovery!

Thank you to our friends at Pocono Record for covering this story!

Read more on the Pocono Record’s website:

Pocono Wildlife Intern Jumps into Delaware River to Save Bald Eagle During Eclipse by Maria Francis