A flightless bald eagle who previously went viral for incubating a rock has made headlines again—but this time for fostering a young eaglet before its release into the wild.
Murphy was hatched at a facility in Oklahoma in 1992 before being sent to the World Bird Sanctuary in Missouri. Injuries rendered him flightless and prevented him from being released into the wild, so he had to remain at the sanctuary.
In March of 2023, Murphy began spending most of his time lying down in a particular corner of his exhibit. One day, a keeper noticed that Murphy had a rock under him and was behaving territorially. To their surprise, sanctuary staff discovered he was incubating the rock.
Roger Holloway, the sanctuary’s executive director, told The Epoch Times that it wasn’t uncommon for eagles to be spotted in this position during the warmer months.
“Even if they don’t have eggs, their hormonal surge in the spring is to parent and incubate even if it’s not an egg,” said Mr. Holloway, who has worked at the sanctuary for 36 years.
Soon after incubating the rock, Murphy fostered eaglet 23-126 for two months, after which the eaglet spent a month in a flight cage with other eagles in rehabilitation. The eaglet was successfully released on July 7, 2023, and hasn’t been spotted since.
The staff was confident in Murphy’s desire to be a foster parent once again. Sure enough, he was ready and willing to take the eaglet under his wing.
“He was still very, very supportive and parental, letting the young bird eat first each time food was presented,” Mr. Holloway told the Epoch Times.
The young eaglet has already begun treating Murphy as a parental figure. As of early May, 24-159 has been following Murphy around. He finds the closest spot to sleep, eat, and preen with his foster dad.
Murphy seems to be getting a bit tired of the constant attention, but he loves 24-159 nonetheless.
Murphy and 24-159 have been together for five weeks and counting.
According to Mr. Holloway, the next big step is to let the eaglet into the flight cage and see his reaction. Additionally, the team will also be able to evaluate how well his wing has healed and whether he can fully extend the wing.
After that, a date for release will hopefully be set.
Both of the birds that Murphy has fostered have gone viral, and the staff at the sanctuary have been happy to see all the positive reactions.
“We’re just really happy that he has so many fans that want to check up on him,“ Mr. Holloway said. ”Just keeping them interested, keeping people interested in wildlife in general, is what we want to do here. So Murphy is a great representative for that.”
