AWC announces ribbon cutting date for bald eagle enclosure

The Alabama Wildlife Center’s newest permanent resident will spread her wings for the public for the first time in December.

The AWC will host a grand opening and ribbon cutting of its newest bird enclosure, at its facility in Oak Mountain State Park, on Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. The star attractions will be the mew’s two residents: a Eurasian eagle-owl that has been a resident of the center for two years, and a new juvenile bald eagle.

Obtaining an eagle has been a multi-year process for the center, Executive Director Doug Adair said. The center must meet strict federal standards in handling and experience with the birds, as well as regulations of its care and habitat, and when a bald eagle becomes available for captive care, there is a long waiting list of Native American and wildlife rehabilitation organizations who have applied for the bird.

“It’s been a long, somewhat arduous process, but it is rewarding,” Adair said.

The AWC’s eagle is a female around 2 years old, Adair and Education Director Scottie Jackson said. She still has mostly brown feathers, and Adair said the distinctive white feathers will not develop on her head until about age 5. The eagle was struck by a car and has lost vision in one eye, rendering her unlikely to survive in the wild.

“Having a live bald eagle is a huge responsibility,” Adair said.

Jackson is in the process of training the eagle to be handled and interact with people as part of its future as an education ambassador bird. The AWC’s education birds include glove-trained birds of prey that they bring to schools, community groups and events to teach people about Alabama’s native wildlife.

“To be able to have an up close, personal experience with a bald eagle, a Eurasian eagle-owl, a red-tailed hawk, an Eastern screech owl, … those kinds of encounters can have a profound impact in terms of creating better stewards for our environment,” Adair said.

While the AWC has a number of trained birds in the education program, including the Eurasian eagle-owl, Jackson said the bald eagle has been more challenging because of its “notoriously willful” personality. The eagle is also physically challenging to carry on a glove, as it has an eight-foot wingspan and weighs around 14 pounds, compared to 2-3 pounds for the average red-tailed hawk.

Jackson said they spend a lot of time “getting to know each other as trainer and trainee.”

“It’s just a process that takes daily interaction,” Adair said.

Jackson said the eagle should be trained and ready for the public by the ribbon cutting date. She wants to make sure the eagle feels comfortable around people and not fearful.

The mew for the two birds includes plenty of space and perches for them to spread their wings, plus a pond that Jackson said could be used to allow the bald eagle to hunt live fish. The bald eagle’s side of the enclosure is large enough, Adair said, that it could eventually hold a second eagle.

Adair said the mew was built with help from a number of sponsors, including Shelby County, the state parks department, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Alabama Power Foundation, EBSCO and the Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation.

The construction also included updates for existing AWC bird of prey enclosures to match the rest of the buildings, and new signs and exhibits, such as video monitors to allow visitors to see the work going on at AWC. Adair said the AWC is updating its website and will be starting a virtual learning program allowing the center to share videos and lessons about its education birds.

“That’s a great opportunity for us to engage with groups that might not be able to come to our facility,” Jackson said.

“Our distance learning initiative can really erase all boundaries,” Adair said.

Adair said the addition of the bald eagle will drive more traffic to Oak Mountain State Park since it is one of only two captive bald eagles in the state, and the only one in the northern half of Alabama.

In addition to its education programs, the AWC annually rescues and rehabilitates around 2,000 native birds that are typically orphaned or injured. Visit awrc.org for more information.