Adopt a Bird Spotlight: Myakka (Bald Eagle)

Myakka's Story

Species: Bald Eagle
Hatched: 1/31/85

Myakka was hatched at G.M. Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma as part of an effort to re-establish a wild bald eagle population in Alabama. After a successful release, Myakka was injured in the wild by a gunshot. At a rehab center in Minneapolis, it was discovered that he had sustained permanent damage to one eye. Unable to hunt successfully, he could not be released. He was received at the World Bird Sanctuary in September 1986.

Myakka has since appeared before hundreds of thousands of people as part of our education outreach programs. In his travels, he has appeared in such venues as: Grant's Farm, Eagle Day programs in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, Milwaukee County Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut, and Clarksville Nature Center in Clarksville, MO.

To adopt Myakka, simply click our donation button, make a donation of $150, and specify in your payment notes: Adopt-a-bird: MYAKKA. Also include your name, phone number, and mailing address so that we can send you your adoption materials!

Every donation helps to feed, house, and provide medical care for the bird of your choice! Adopt-A-Bird Parents Receive:

• *A personal visit with the bird you adopt!!!!! Call 636-861-3225 to set up a time for
• your personal visit.
• * Certificate of Adoption
• * Color photo of the bird you've adopted
• * Sponsorship Card
• * One year's subscription to Mews News (our quarterly newsletter)
• * Life History and Natural History of the bird
• * 10% Discount off WBS merchandise
• * Invitation to Sponsors-only events like Camera Day
• * Discounts on WBS Special Events
• * WBS Decal

Natural History

Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Description: large; white head, neck and tail; brown-black body; massive yellow bill and feet

Sex: males and females are similar but females are larger

Age: juveniles are mostly dark brown with white blotches underneath and on the wing linings; become more white each molt; gain adult plumage after 4-5 years; immature calls are generally harsher

Length: 31-37”

Wingspan: 5.8-7.5’

Weight: 8-14 lbs.
Habitat: rivers, lakes, coastal areas

Status: seen across most of North America; common in Alaska, parts of Florida and in the Midwest during winter months; common along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in winter; became endangered in the 70s from pesticides; conservation programs and pesticide banning helped increase populations again

Range: Alaska and Canada to the southern United States

Behavior: monogamous pairs; breed April-August and build a stick nest as high as 150 feet above the ground, usually in a tree or on cliffs near water; renovate and add to their nest each year until it falls; 1 brood with 1-3 dull, whitish eggs; both parents incubate for 34-36 days until semi-altricial chicks hatch asynchronously; chicks leave nest at 10 weeks; large numbers of bald eagles often congregate where food is plentiful, like spawning ruts; will steal food from smaller and weaker osprey; fly low after prey
Diet: carrion, fish, waterfowl, birds, small mammals

Vocalization: sharp, pleading, creaking cackle; “kleek-kik-ik-ik-ik”; lower “kak-kak-kak”

√ The bald eagle has been the national symbol of the United States since 1782.

Adopt A Bird spotlights are written and photographed by Gay Schroer.