Spirits Soaring as Eagles Settle In at Zoo

It’s not a wild forest or the edge of a sheer cliff, their preferred digs, but the newly landscaped eagle exhibits at the Orange County Zoo seem to please Silas and Tatekohamni just fine.

Visitors who came to the zoo Friday to see Tatekohamni, a 19-year-old bald eagle acquired from the San Francisco Zoo several weeks ago, and golden eagle Silas were awed by how close they could get to the birds.

“It’s cool,” said Cristina Hibbs, a 12-year-old Westminster resident. “It’s twice as cool as I thought it would be. I’ve never seen a bald eagle before. I thought it would be bald.”

The birds’ white head feathers make them appear bald from a distance as they soar at speeds up to 44 miles an hour. Tatekohamni has not managed that feat since he was injured in the wild 15 years ago, though.

Rescued after he injured a wing and lost an eye, he was adopted by a San Francisco-based bald eagle breeding program.

Today, visitors can stand just a few feet away from him in his new home, a cluster of sycamore trees, bushes, stones and flowers, and clearly see his white feather cap.

Nearby, separated by a mesh fence, is the terrain of Silas, a 5-year-old golden eagle the zoo has kept out of public view for two years while helping her recover from a gunshot wound from a would-be poacher in Morro Bay.

Neither bird would survive in the wild, zoo director Forrest de Spain said.

Stymied for more than a year by the Orange County bankruptcy, zoo officials finally put together the $60,000 needed for the natural exhibits with some county funds and large donations from Southern California Edison, Chevron and San Juan Capistrano’s Tree of Life Nursery.

The exhibits are surrounded by a “phantom mesh” fence, barely visible except when the sun hits it at a certain angle. A grouping of lodge poles gives the birds privacy and covers an adjacent building so visitors’ view is drawn to the mountains in the background.

The 29-foot ceiling gives the birds a sense of space. Next, the zoo hopes to add artificial waterfalls and a partner eagle for each, de Spain said.

“I wanted an open-air exhibit so, if the birds have limited flying abilities, they could fly. They like to go as high as they can.”