It is with the heaviest of hearts that I bring you sad news today. Murphy, the eagle who incubated a rock (and later raised a foster eaglet after his rock “hatched”), passed away at age 33 (almost a decade longer than long-lived wild eagles!). A tornado hit his local area. It’s believed he sustained blunt force head trauma, likely from spooking during the high winds, as his cage and fellow eagles were unharmed.
Murphy is survived by his foster son, Baby 23-126, who was successfully released into the wild, and a second foster eaglet he was still caring for; this eaglet is expected to be able to be released as well.
I know a lot of people on Tumblr enjoyed seeing his story, and I know we will remember him fondly.
Not to make everyone sad again, but! I realized that just days before Murphy passed away, the eagles (Shadow and Jackie) who had hatched 3 eaglets lost one of them to a sudden, severe winter storm.
Now, I’m not saying that Murphy suddenly had somewhere else to be, but an eaglet passed away and an eagle known for how he took care of lost eaglets passed away just days later. I’m just saying. I’m just thinking if there’s anything after death for eagles, maybe I hope they find each other.
