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Representatives from the World Bird Sanctuary along with community members celebrated the heart felt release of Bald Eagle 23-126 back into the wild today, July 7, 2023, at the Audubon Center at Riverlands in West Alton, Mo. On a normal year, the World Bird Sanctuary of Valley Park, Mo., successfully raises and releases over 100 orphaned and injured raptor babies from multiple different species. They use their natural lifecycle to guide the timeline for release, but the story of Bald Eagle 23-126 is not just your normal rehab and release. Interestingly, due to a hormonal response, one of the Sanctuary’s other eagles named “Murphy” became a social media star and then made the nationwide news on CBS Sunday Morning with his desire to become a father when he started incubating a rock. This led sanctuary personnel to pair Murphy with an orphaned eaglet earlier in the spring. The mentoring of the eaglet named 23-126 began once Murphy became his aviary mate. 16 weeks later, the immature brown bald eagle has not only learned how to clearly recognize other eagles as members of the same species indicating proper imprinting, but now has a healthy fear of humans and moves away when approached indicating that he does not recognize humans as a provider of food. At this same age, wild eagles would naturally be leaving their parent's territory. With the end goal for wildlife rehabilitation being a successful release of treated patients back to the wild, the World Bird Sanctuary team and Murphy, have been preparing 23-126 for his release by developing his skills for hunting, perching, and conditioning his flight muscles through lots of practice in anticipation of this date.