ST. MARIES — The soft brown feathers on the chest of B.B. the bald eagle heaved with his breath Thursday morning as handlers placed a hood on him.

Those feathers also hid the fact that he is underweight, indicated by the sharp keel, or part of his breastbone, that could be felt through the plumage and in the middle of the chest that has potential to become full and mighty.

“Clear!” raptor biologist Janie Veltkamp said to her assistant as she set the eagle on the scale for an accurate reading.

“That’s how you weigh an eagle,” she said. “This bird’s going back to the wild, but it’s going to be a while.”

B.B., nicknamed for where he was found in Bottle Bay near Sandpoint, is one of about a dozen eagles in the care of Birds of Prey Northwest, a Coeur d’Alene-based, volunteer-run nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates raptors while promoting stewardship and conservation of these special birds through educational programs. The facility, located outside St. Maries, is at a record for golden and bald eagles. Veltkamp said Birds of Prey usually sees three to six in a whole year and three wound up at the facility just in the last week or so.

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