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| NewsSaturday, May 26, 2007 9:43 PM CDT |
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Miller Park Zoo anxiously awaits possible hatching
BLOOMINGTON -- Miller Park Zoo director John Tobias has his fingers crossed, hoping he’ll have a new arrival at the zoo soon. An eaglet could hatch at the Bloomington facility as early as this weekend. | Web cam | Eagle Watch No one knows how often eagles are born in zoos, but it’s known to be very rare. “We are entering that time now when it could be any time,” said Tobias, who has seen visits to the facility soar during May. “It’s been pretty neat.” During the wait, Tobias has made plans on what to do if an eaglet appears. He hopes the adult eagles will care for it for the first 10 weeks. After that, the young bird must be given to a raptor expert who will wean it from human help as it learns to fly and hunt on its own. The process is called “hacking.” The egg watch, which has received national media attention, began when Beauty, the zoo’s female eagle, laid two eggs in a matter of days in early May. The eggs were a first in her 13 years at the zoo. Beauty shares the open-topped enclosure with a male bald eagle named Mathata. A wild bald eagle paid a visit to the zoo for several days during spring migration but no one knows whether either egg was fertilized and, if so, by which bird. Zoo officials decided against disturbing the nest on Mother’s Day to “candle” the eggs, a procedure where light is shone through the shell to see if an embryo is developing inside. On May 18, the zoo staff noticed one egg was gone without a trace. Speculation centered on a possible theft by a wild animal, a human or that Beauty ate the egg after sensing something was amiss. No one knows which egg, the first or second, remains, so Tobias cannot pinpoint a date when hatching might occur. Average incubation time is about 34 days. Friday marked the 32nd day since the first egg was noticed. Beauty and Mathata cannot fly because of injuries that landed them in captivity, so they cannot hunt to feed themselves or Beauty’s offspring. Zoo staff will continue to feed the adults their diet of fish and hope they, in turn, feed the eaglet. If not, the staff will not intercede to save the eaglet, and nature will be allowed to follow its course, Tobias said. The zoo had a permit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that only allowed the facility to exhibit eagles, not raise them. But after the first egg appeared, the federal agency issued a temporary permit for the zoo to raise the eaglet until it is 10 weeks old. After that time, the Fish and Wildlife Service directed Tobias to turn the young bird over to an expert to continue raising the bird until it can survive on its own. Given Harper, an eagle expert and head of the biology department at Illinois Wesleyan University, said hacking is a well-tested strategy that has been used with both captive-bred eagles and peregrine falcons. Young birds are placed in an enclosed box with bars on the front and affixed to poles in the wild. Each day, a caretaker climbs to the back of the box and drops in food and provides water. Care is taken so the birds cannot see the person to avoid teaching them to associate humans with food. The birds must be wary of humans to survive after their release, Harper said. Over time, the bars are removed and the young eagles exit the box to practice flying. Feeding continues at first, but gradually they start catching food on their own. “This technique has been used for many raptor species, and it was instrumental in bringing peregrine falcons back from the brink of extinction,” Harper said. Tobias also plans to keep a watchful eye on the eaglet for signs that it may not survive if released. If something raises his concern, he may approach the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to reconsider its order for release, he said. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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