Wildlife Center of Va. to release bald eagle today in Charles City

CHARLES CITY — The Wildlife Center of Virginia is releasing a bald eagle at Westover Plantation on the James River.

The juvenile bald eagle was found with a broken right leg in May along the North Fork of the Shenandoah River in Warren County. Virginia Tech researchers working on an eaglet banding project transported the eaglet to the Wildlife Center in Waynesboro and nursed back to health.

Officials say the eagle will be released today across the James River from a 4,200-acre wildlife refuge that hosts one of the largest eagle roosts on the East Coast.

The bald eagle population in Virginia is rebounding, with more than 600 active nests across the state. In the late 1970s there were fewer than 50.