With its status as an age-old symbol of America, I wonder how much the average person actually knows about bald eagles.
The white and brown birds are no doubt the most recognizable eagles, but what do they do besides get stamped on U.S.A. souvenirs and people’s jackets?
Bald eagles are sea eagles. They’re not predators of sheep and sloths like their European and South American cousins. But make no mistake, they’re no less impressive to see in person.
Like most eagles, bald eagles are also great parents.
Murphy is one eagle who decided to be a single father and got some attention for doing so.
Murphy was rescued from the wild and bore some injuries too serious to be released back into the wild.
He spends his days now at the World Bird Sanctuary, or WBS, in Missouri.
The WBS monitored him for a good while and noticed Murphy doing something peculiar.
He would collect dirt and twigs and build it around a rock in his enclosure.
Murphy even dug into the dirt and debris a bit to form a shallow pit for the rock.
There was no mistaking this behavior: it was nesting behavior.
For some reason, Murphy thought the rock was an egg and was trying to get it to hatch.
Everyone at the sanctuary noticed and felt sad for poor Murphy.
He wanted to be a father so badly but had no family to call his own. As if being unable to return to the wild wasn’t bad enough.
But that wasn’t the end of things. Murphy proved to the folks at the sanctuary that he could easily step up to be a father. Soon, he’ll get a chance to prove it.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the state at Ste. Genevieve, strong winds knocked 2 chicks out of an eagle’s nest. Only one survived.
With an orphaned eagle and a lone adult who badly wants to be a father, the sanctuary knew that this was too good an opportunity.
The orphaned chick, numbered eagle chick 23-126, arrived at the sanctuary to open arms (and wings).
But they couldn’t just put him in Murphy’s enclosure immediately.
23-126 was still full and may have needed time to adjust to its new surroundings.
Though rest assured, they’ll introduce him to Murphy when he’s all comfortable.
That day came very soon, and Murphy got to see the orphan chick that he would get to adopt.
The sanctuary was anxious to see how the two would get along. They made the right call.
On April 13th, the staff noticed Murphy feeding the baby! Exactly what everyone wanted.
Murphy got his wish, and 23-126 gets to have a father he never knew he needed.
You could say Murphy isn’t the stepfather. He’s the father that stepped up.
On the 26th of that same month, the sanctuary shared a video of Murphy keeping watch over the chick as it rested in his enclosure.
Eventually, 23-126 grew up and had to learn to fly, but not before picking up some life lessons from Murphy.
While at the sanctuary, Murphy taught him how to preen, to hunt, perch, and every other survival tool that an eagle has to know.
The day came for the chick to be released back into the wild, and it was all thanks to Murphy that he got a chance.
See Murphy take on the role of dad as he adopts this eaglet below!
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