World Bird Sanctuary Eagle Finds Rock, Becomes Its Mom

Murphy does not need a real egg to feel accomplished!!He’s quite content with his rock, and VERY protective of it! After his spring hormones have run their course, he will get bored and move on to other activities. Poor rock. pic.twitter.com/aa3CZ4rv5y

— World Bird Sanctuary CEO (@WBSSTL) March 26, 2023

An eagle at the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis has captured the internet and our hearts. 

A viral tweet shared over the weekend shows Murphy, a male eagle at the sanctuary in Valley Park, carefully incubating a rock.

“Is that eagle hurt?!” A sign outside of Murphy’s enclosure reads. The World Bird Sanctuary cautions viewers not to worry. “Murphy is not hurt, sick, or otherwise in distress. He has built a nest on the ground, and is very carefully incubating a rock! We wish him the best of luck!” 

Murphy’s just running the course of his spring hormones, World Bird Sanctuary CEO Dawn Griffard later elaborated.

“He’s quite content with his rock, and VERY protective of it,” Dawn Griffard wrote in a Tweet. “After his spring hormones have run their course, he will get bored and move on to other activities. Poor rock."

According to our non-exhaustive research on eagle egg incubation, adult eagles share incubation duties and take turns sitting on eggs. But female eagles usually do most of the work.

Murphy, The Feminist King. He'll make a great dad someday.