On Monday, the chick was asleep at one of its parents’ feet when “the parent took off, and the chick accidentally got out of the nest,” according to ecologist Peter Sharp, who oversees the Bald Eagle Restoration Project in the Channel Islands, California, for CNN. Sharp and his team are monitoring 21 bald eagle nests on the islands this season.

The rescue team arrived on Tuesday, Sharpe and two of his mates used ropes to reach the chick, then operated on quick health check before the baby returns to its nest.

This isn’t the first time Sharp’s job has asked him to rescue a baby eagle. Just last week, an ecologist brought another fallen eagle back to its nest, he said.

Sharp said bald eagles start flying between 10 and 12 weeks and then typically spend another month with their parents before becoming fully independent. Once they learn to fly, he said, they face threats beyond falling out of the nest: cars, power lines, gunfire, and lead poisoning from the carcasses of lead-laden garbage.

“They are part of a restoration project that has been going on for more than 40 years,” he said. “A lot of effort has been put into restoring the vultures. Losing one chick in one season can have a very big impact. We are just trying to increase the number of chicks that reach maturity.”

Sharp will return to the nest in two to three weeks, he said, to place a marking tape on the eagle’s leg, take its measurements and estimate its sex.