Meet McGwire!

 As the season of eagle programs continues, I am compelled to tell everyone a little about my favorite Bald Eagle, McGwire.  

Meet McGwire

All of our eagles are fantastic to work with, of course, but every animal we work with does certainly have its own personality and quirks.  The longer you work with each one, you start to notice subtle differences in each of them, and these little discoveries are always magic moments.

Folks who attend our shows and visit our site regularly become familiar with Patriot and Liberty, two of our most travelled and visible Bald Eagles.  McGwire, however, resides at our Education Training Center, which is behind the scenes, so he is an individual with whom people may be less familiar.  I was lucky enough to get to spend an entire summer working with him in Boston, while doing shows at the Stone Zoo in 2007.  I admit I have been partial to him ever since! 

McGwire is 14 years old this year and came to us from a rehabilitation center in Nebraska.  He is an imprinted bird, which for raptors generally means that someone found the bird as a chick, assumed it was injured, and tried to raise it themselves.  Most folks who try this do so with the best of intentions, however the end result is the same.

First of all, this endeavor is illegal. Secondly, a raptor that is imprinted on humans tends to show behavior that is dangerous both to themselves and the humans around them.  They look to humans for food, since humans are what first provided it.  Because of this, they do not know how to hunt for food on their own, and indeed, usually don’t even try.  If an imprinted bird lives long enough to reach maturity, it then sees most humans as threats to its territory or as potential mates, causing unnatural behavior.

McGwire’s preferred “hunting ground” became the parking lot of a Cabela’s sporting goods store, where he was harassing unsuspecting shoppers.  How scary would that be?!  Luckily, there was a center nearby that could take care of him and could find him a good home, since he could clearly not hunt on his own.  Since Mac has been with us, he has been an excellent education bird.  He is good-tempered and comfortable in a variety of show settings.

 McGwire's favorite time of day--3:30 pm during the Stone Zoo show

One of my very favorite things about McGwire is his obvious love of the sunshine.  Now lots of our birds sun themselves, but few of them do it on a schedule.  During the 3:30 pm show at Stone Zoo in Boston, McGwire would come out as the grand finale, be walked around the amphitheater for all to see, and then the trainer would station themselves off to one side where folks could come up and take pictures with McGwire after the show.  At this time of day the sun was positioned so that it shined on that particular spot.  As the show ended McGwire would fluff up all of his leg and belly feathers perfectly parallel to the ground to act like hundreds of little solar panels, and stretch his wings wide, happily soaking up the rays.  People were always impressed, and his apparent total contentment made me happy too.  It’s amusing to think about how many people from that summer alone have pictures in their vacation photo albums of this majestic but fluffy bird, with me grinning dorkily at how adorable he is.

If you want to meet our amazing eagles, a great time to do so is World Eagle Day at the World Bird Sanctuary on Sunday, March 20^th from 10 am until 3 pm.  It is a free event full of shows with eagles from around the world, as well as crafts and activities for all ages.

You may get to meet McGwire up close in the eagle weathering area, which will be set up at our Monsanto Environmental Education Center.  However, being March in Missouri, I can promise neither him nor you sunshine.  Rain or shine, a good time will be had by all!

Submitted by Dana Lambert, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist