Murphy the bald eagle went from incubating a rock (left) to bonding with an orphaned eagle chick.
A bald eagle who went viral for adopting a rock at a Missouri sanctuary recently took a new baby bird under his wing.
The 31-year-old bird named Murphy went viral in March after photos of his enclosure at the World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park, Missouri, were shared on Twitter. A sign on the enclosure’s fence informed visitors that Murphy was looking after a rock.
“If you see an eagle lying down in the back left corner under a perch, that’s Murphy! Murphy is not hurt, sick, or otherwise in distress,” the sign read. “He has built a nest on the ground, and is very carefully incubating a rock! We wish him the best of luck!”
The tweet racked up more than 4.5 million views and nearly 140,000 likes. On March 26, the sanctuary posted an update on Facebook about Murphy and the stone, which they later dubbed “RockBaby.”
“Although it might make you feel sad that Murphy has built a nest and is nurturing a rock as an egg, it’s just his hormonal response to spring. Murphy is not sad, so you don’t need to be,” the post read.