Zoo Bald Eagle Makes Wild Bald Eagle Friend

The Orange County Zoo in Orange, California noticed that their resident bald eagle was receiving a regular visitor, and not a human one. Another eagle was stopping by every day to call back and forth with Olivia, the six-year-old resident.

From the Zoo’s press release:

It’s unknown if the wild bird-of-prey is drawn to Olivia’s calls, or to the fish in normally dry Santiago Creek. Nobody even knows for sure if it’s a male.

But it has been coming by every day for more than a week, and the Zoo has decided to hold a contest to name it.

And the winning name was… Free Bird?  Really?

I mean we like Lynyrd Skynyrd as much as the next blog, but Free Bird is just a literal description of the difference between this bird and the bird it’s talking to.  Here, let me help: the Latin word for eagle is Aquila.  In Russian, it’s Orel.

Olivia and her new buddy will hopefully stay platonic though, as she is strictly a rescue bird, and is not healthy enough to be returned to the wild.

Officially the Nerdiest Thing This Reminds Me Of:

Oh… nobody else had a kindergarten teacher who had the class watch The Minds Eye a bunch of times?

(via Discovery News.)