Although two bald eagles rode in dog crates in a pickup bed to Fort Lincoln on Tuesday morning, they left the park in far grander fashion.

In a double release, an adult and an immature eagle were returned to the wild high atop a hill at Fort Lincoln State Park.

Dakota Zoo director Terry Lincoln first lifted the immature eagle - wearing band No. 832 - toward the sky, sending the mostly brown bird off to resume its journey that was interrupted in March. Then Jeff Towner, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, sent the white-headed, white-tailed adult eagle on its way. Towner is the field supervisor for ecological services in the Bismarck office.

Sixty-seven wide-eyed students from Camp Edventure, along with their teachers, watched the double release. Mostly first-, second- and third-graders, they applauded soon after the adult eagle caught the wind, stretched its wings and flew away. It wore band No. 840.

On the bus ride out of Fort Lincoln, the students' buzz continued to be on the eagles.

"They thought it was neat. A couple of kids called it 'awesome,' " Camp Edventure teacher Lance Kocis said Tuesday afternoon. "They were amazed at how big their wings were."

The release marked the first time two eagles were returned to the wild at the same time in the 44 years that Dakota Zoo has been rehabilitating injured or sick raptors, Lincoln said.

Towner was participating in his first hands-on eagle release. Lincoln is a veteran of eagle releases.

But more recently inflicted eagle wounds were visible on Lincoln.

"The immature one is a fighter," Lincoln said. "It got me twice today."

Towner's only wound was a red spot on his arm.

Eagle No. 840 has been undergoing rehabilitation since October, when it was brought from the Devils Lake area with a broken wing. Eagle No. 832 came from the St. John area and was probably suffering from lead poisoning after ingesting lead shotgun pellets that were included in one of its meals.

Both birds underwent rehabilitation at the Dakota Zoo and strengthened their wings inside flight pens at the zoo.

When they were determined to be capable of caring for themselves in the wild, they were released.

Bald eagles are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act and are protected by the USFWS.

Assistant zoo director Rod Fried kept watch long after the eagles were freed.

"The youngster is floating in the wind," he reported, "and the bald eagle has probably made it to the highway."

As Lincoln and Fried were driving away, the adult eagle was circling overhead, Lincoln said.

"It was up in the thermals," he said. "It could be in South Dakota by now."

(Reach reporter Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or outdoors@bismarcktribune.net.)