On the sidelines of Jordan-Hare or on educational demonstrations across the state, fans may be surprised to see a new eagle among the usual birds.
On Veteran’s Day, the Southeastern Raptor Center officially introduced the center’s newest bird, a bald eagle named Independence, or Indy for short.
Andrew Hopkins, the center’s assistant director of raptor training and education, said Indy came to Auburn from a rehabilitation center in Florida.
“While she was there, she became a human imprint,” Hopkins said. “Which means she got too used to people, so she was deemed non-releasable.”
In a later email, Hopkins said Indy arrived at the SRC in June 2018. Her hatch date was estimated to be in January 2016, meaning she will be turning four years old at the beginning of next year.
Hopkins said bald eagles become fully grown at four months old, but they don’t become mature — and get their signature white head and tail — until they are five years old.
“Slowly over the first five years, they are growing more and more white colorations on their head and on their tail,” Hopkins said.
He said Indy has attended every football game this year. He said the SRC likes to make sure that they will keep an eagle before they announce it to the public.
Because Monday was Veteran’s Day, it was a good day to formally announce Indy on social media, Hopkins said.
According to Hopkins, Indy’s future at the SRC will include more educational presentations and training to potentially fly around Jordan-Hare stadium during games.
“She’s got about a year underneath her belt right now and she’s looking pretty good,” Hopkins said. “But it’s still a little too early to say whether she will be able to fly around in front of all those crowds — all those people.”
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Trice Brown, sophomore in english language arts education, is the campus editor of The Auburn Plainsman.
