It’s been a long couple days for one bald eagle who got stuck in a Bothell tree, and thanks to the efforts of multiple rescue agencies the bird was rescued, but it’s not in the clear.

Bothell resident and wildlife photographer Nancy Wagner first noticed the 3-year-old female eagle on Tuesday morning as it perched in a neighbor’s tree along the 22000 block of 228th Street Southeast.

She said she saw a large murder of crows circling around a neighbor’s yard. In her experience, she said large groups of agitated crows usually signal a predator in the area.

She has used this technique to capture photographs of wildlife in the past.

“It may not have been noticed if the crows hadn’t been making such a noise,” Wagner said. “I’ve learned to listen to those crows.”

When she pinpointed where the crows were circling, she said she noticed two bald eagles in the neighbor’s tree, one of which looked like it was stuck. She sprung into action and called Sarvey Wildlife Center, a local nonprofit which treats and rehabilitates wild animals.

Sarvey Executive Director Suzanne West said, when they got the first call on Tuesday, they didn’t think the bird was stuck since she said eagles getting stuck in trees is relatively rare if they’re not snagged on entanglements, like fishing wire.

But on Wednesday morning when Wagner called again, saying the eagle was still in the tree, and now hanging by its leg, West said they knew something was wrong.

“We’ve had eagles trapped in trees before, but usually there’s debris,” West said. “Somehow this eagle got its leg wedged in there real tight, and couldn’t free itself.”

Wagner and Sarvey Wildlife Center started making phone calls, contacting both the state and federal departments of Fish and Wildlife, a cat-rescuing nonprofit called Canopy Cat Rescue and the Bothell Fire Department.

Shaun Sears is an owner of Canopy Cat Rescue. He said he’s had to climb up trees to rescue stuck animals, ranging from cats and raccoons, to parrots and falcons.

“I showed up, I was totally ready to climb the tree,” Sears said.

Sears said the bird was stuck around 50 feet up on a tree sprouting from the bottom of an embankment. The Bothell Fire Department was on scene by that time, he said, and had begun setting up a ladder truck to reach the bird.

However, Sears said if the tree had been just a few feet farther down the embankment, the ladder truck may not have been able to reach it.

“If they hadn’t been able to get the bird with their bucket, I would have been ready to go,” he said.

Sarvey Wildlife Center volunteer Robert Lee arrived too, and went with a firefighter in a ladder bucket to the eagle.

The firefighter cut away branches, letting them get close enough for Lee to grab the bird and safely pluck it from the wedge before transporting it to Sarvey Wildlife Center for treatment.

“It was cool to see an arborist, Fish and Wildlife, citizens with cameras out, families rolling by,” Sears said. “All these people showed up to make sure this bird got out safely, and one way or another, we were going to be successful.”

But the eagle may not be out of the woods yet, West said.

Sarvey Wildlife Center treated the bird with fluids, pain medications and cleaned the injured leg, but as of Thursday afternoon, the bird could not move its leg. Sarvey clinic manager Jessica Paolello said the eagle was suffering from necrosis after having her foot trapped for so long without blood flow, and said the prognosis is not good, but not hopeless.

“You never know, circulation could come back,” she said.

If the eagle’s injuries are too severe to heal properly, West said they may have to euthanize her.

“It’s in pretty bad shape in terms of what it’s been through, a very stressful situation,” West said. “At this point, its up to how much damage did the bird do trying to free itself.”

Some injured raptors can be rehabilitated and released, or kept as rescue animals in zoos, depending on how severe their injuries are, West said.

“Our goal is always to try to rehabilitate and release this bird,” she said.

For example, if a raptor breaks its wing and cannot entirely heal, the center will try to place it in a zoo. But in this case, if the eagle’s leg tendons and ligaments are too grievously injured, that may not be an option.

“It has to have a certain quality of life, and having both of its feet is really important,” West said.

It is also a mature eagle which has lived most of its life in the wild, West said. She said the eagle doesn’t know what is happening to it, and has been fearful while they’re treating it. Most injured raptors which live at zoos were rescued when they were young, giving them a chance to acclimate to captivity, she said.

Sarvey Wildlife Center is testing the animal to see the extent of its injuries, and should have more information soon, West said.

“We’re touch and go at this point,” said West.