Stephen Jr. Is That You?
Fans of Stephen Colbert will know that in 2006 he adopted a bald eagle as a part of the San Francisco Zoo’s bald eagle breeding program. The eponymously named eagle, Stephen Jr., was hatched in April of 2006 and eventually migrated to Canada, but returned to the United States earlier this year and is now hanging out in southwestern Washington.
This eagle at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge may or may not be Stephen Jr., but it is the same age. It takes bald eagles four years to get their distinctive white caps — in their first year, they are nearly all brown like the juvenile shown here. There have been a couple of young eagles that have been hanging out quite visibly at the refuge lately, one a week or so ago had just captured an American coot and devoured it in a tree right above me.
This eagle was perched on a branch of a tall tree, spreading its wings out in the gentle breeze. It almost seemed like it was pretending it was flying, and I wondered how long it would take it to remember that it really could fly. It’s such a majestic pose that I can’t help singing “God Bless America” whenever I look at it.
You can track the movement of Stephen Jr. by visiting The Institute for Wildlife Studies and selecting the date of interest. Stephen Jr.’s official designation is Eagle A-46 and you can find more truthiness about him here. I doubt this is Stephen Jr. given the lack of an identifying wing tag, but perhaps it has fallen off. I didn’t see any bears that day — there never have been bears living at the refuge, but still …