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Is it Bird Love? Wild Bald Eagle Hanging with OC Zoo Buddy
It's hard out there for a rare bird. Which is probably why a wild bald eagle has taken to chilling out right next to the bald eagle exhibit at the small Orange County Zoo inside Irvine Regional Park. First spotted last weekend, the wild bird has been spending his mornings and evening "perched in a tree above the zoo's 6-year-old female bald eagle, Olivia," according to the LA Times.
In fact, the pair have been chatting it up--well, squawking back and forth, as the Zoo manager explains, and seem to have struck up a friendship. Is it bald eagle love? Zookeepers aren't sure, since they don't know the sex of the visiting bird, though its size suggests it may be male. They do believe that the wild bald eagle is drawn to the site because "the zoo lies close to an abundant food source: Santiago Creek," which is full of fish following recent rains.
Although bald eagles show up from time to time in the wild, it's quite unusual for one to hang out next to an eagle in captive. It's so unusual that looky-loos are also flocking to the area to see the bird and to take photos.
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