They were cooped up for weeks, but now, two eagles are soaring through the sky once more.

The injured birds - one a bald eagle named 007, the other a golden eagle named 006 - were released yesterday on the Lake Erie shoreline near Colchester.

"Birds that were once nearly extinct in this area have clearly made a comeback," said Nancy Phillips of Wings Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre."The numbers are rising, they are building successful nests .. they are breeding more and there are more baby birds coming."

Working with a bald eagle was rare when Phillips started caring for birds, but over the past five or six years, it's becoming more common.

"Sometimes we have four or five a year, and we've released them back. We haven't lost hardly any," Phillips said.

She said the birds were brought in over the past few months.

Bill Donelly said he sees plenty of wild life, from his porch overlooking Lake Erie, but a bald eagle in the water last month really caught his attention.

"At that time it looked like it was trying to fly and couldn't," said Donelly. "It almost looked like it was doing the back stroke and moving back and forth on the ice. We knew it was definitely in distress at that time."

Donelly went out on the ice with a blanket, wrapped the bird up and brought it back to shore.

He says he didn't realize the potential danger until he took the bird to Wings Rehabilitation Centre.

"She [Phillips] said it's the talon I'm worried about and she had these big leather gloves on and I'm there with just a silly little blanket," Donelly said. "They are such a majestic bird .. I would hate to have to lose one to illness or injury so I am really glad wings rehab did a wonderful job getting the bird rehabilitated."

Donelly's neighbours helped raise money to cover the care of the birds.