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Sydney Cromwell
Alabama Wildlife Center employees briefly show Shelby the bald eagle to the crowd before releasing her in her enclosure.
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Sydney Cromwell
Shelby the bald eagle explores her new mew on Dec. 15, 2018. The eagle is about two years old and will not get her distinctive white feathers until about age five.
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Sydney Cromwell
Shelby County leaders, members of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Alabama Wildlife Center staff hold a ribbon-cutting in front of their new mew, which hosts a bald eagle and a Eurasian eagle-owl, on Dec. 15, 2018.
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Sydney Cromwell
Alabama Wildlife Center Executive Director Doug Adair speaks about the process of getting a bald eagle and building a mew for her prior to a ribbon cutting on Dec. 15, 2018.
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Sydney Cromwell
An Alabama Wildlife Center talks to guests about a red tailed hawk, one of the center's education birds, during an unveiling of the center's new bald eagle on Dec. 15, 2018.
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Sydney Cromwell
An Alabama Wildlife Center talks to guests about a red tailed hawk, one of the center's education birds, during an unveiling of the center's new bald eagle on Dec. 15, 2018.
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Creampuff, a screech owl who is one of the Alabama Wildlife Center's education birds.
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The Alabama Wildlife Center invited the public to see its new bald eagle for the first time on Dec. 15, 2018.
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Sydney Cromwell
The Alabama Wildlife Center invited the public to see its new bald eagle for the first time on Dec. 15, 2018.
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Sydney Cromwell
The Alabama Wildlife Center invited the public to see its new bald eagle for the first time on Dec. 15, 2018.
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Sydney Cromwell
Shelby the bald eagle explores her new mew on Dec. 15, 2018. The eagle is about two years old and will not get her distinctive white feathers until about age five.
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Sydney Cromwell
Shelby the bald eagle explores her new mew on Dec. 15, 2018. The eagle is about two years old and will not get her distinctive white feathers until about age five.
Shelby the bald eagle drew gasps from the crowd at the Alabama Wildlife Center on Saturday as she took her first public flight at her brand new home.
The AWC held a ribbon-cutting on Dec. 15 for its new enclosure, called a mew, and the newest resident of the center, located inside Oak Mountain State Park.
The bald eagle is a two-year-old female who was given to the AWC after she was struck by a car, causing a partial loss of sight. She weighs around 14 pounds, AWC Executive Director Doug Adair said. The AWC has been working toward getting a bald eagle for about two years, as the process requires extensive training and approval from the federal government.
Adair said the eagle was named Shelby to honor the cooperation on every level in the county to get the mew built and ready for the bird. The mew also houses the center's Eurasian eagle-owl, also a rescued bird, and it 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 bald eagle will not develop the distinctive white head feathers until around age 5, and Adair said it will be exciting for visitors to watch her grow and develop those feathers. She is also not fully glove-trained, so she only made a brief appearance for the crowd before being released into her enclosure.
Adair said the goal is to someday have two glove-trained eagles, so the center can take one to schools and organizations around the state as an education bird, while the other remains at the center for visitors to enjoy.
The AWC rehabilitates around 2,000 birds a year, from songbirds and water birds to hawks and owls. It also has a number of educational birds of prey, which are trained to be shown to crowds as part of educational programs.
Read more about the AWC's work and other new projects being planned here.
