EXPERT: EAGLE MAKES COMEBACK IN STATE

With Phoenix, an American bald eagle, perched on his arm, Mike Lampey joked with his audience of area science and mathematics teachers about the eagle.

"Doesn't he look like he works for the post office?" Lampey asked.

Lampey is a volunteer with the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo. He travels around Missouri with Phoenix to educate people about eagles.

Lampey was brought to Cape Girardeau Monday night by the Linda Godwin Center for Science and Mathematics Education at Southeast Missouri State University. He presented a lecture on the eagle at the university.

"Our national symbol is just a beautiful bird to see up close," said Lanette Rodgers, director of the Godwin Center.

Lampey said that Dickerson Park Zoo and the Missouri Conservation Department are working together on a bald eagle breeding program. The zoo has the only breeding facility for eagles in the state.

"About 11 years ago there were no nests in Missouri," Lampey said. "Now, in the winter, we have the second highest population in the lower 48 states about 1,600 to 1,800 birds next to Washington state," he said. "In the summer there are now eight breeding nests in Missouri."

Lampey said that at the zoo the eagles are not allowed to sit on their own eggs and hatch them because they are usually young and inexperienced. So chickens sit on the eagle eggs.

"Because a baby eagle can be as big as a chicken in three days," said Lampey, "we have to be careful or the eagle will eat the chicken."

He said that eagles usually breed once a year. "We've learned how to disrupt the birds' nests and light cycle to slightly traumatize the birds to start breeding again," said Lampey.

"Phoenix will not breed," he said. "She does not think of herself as an eagle, but as a person," said Lampey." She would eat a male up because she would just not tolerate another eagle."

Lampey said Phoenix is in captivity only because, when she was set free, she did not do well in the wild. "She didn't hunt well," said Lampey. "We had to force feed her when we found her because she was so weak."

Lampey said that now she associates humans with food. "She doesn't want to get away," said Lampey. "She gets three, full, square meals a day, and on the road with me she eats mice like popcorn."

Phoenix travels in a metal box with an eagle painted on it. Lampey said that after training Phoenix to go into the box she now enjoys it. "The box is home to her, very quiet and secure," he said.

Phoenix was born in 1989. "She's a juvenile," said Lampey. "When she is 5, she'll get her white head and white tail."

He said now the eagle weighs 14 pounds and her wing span is about 7 feet, 4 inches.

Ann Rankin of Dexter, education consultant with the Missouri Department of Conservation, attended the lecture. Rankin said that educating the public about eagles is very important because several eagles have been shot.

She said the main reason the eagle is an endangered species is because of the pesticide DDT, which is now illegal. "DDT got into the fish that eagles eat and caused the eagle's eggshells to thin," she said. "When the eagles would sit on their eggs they would crack."

Southeast math instructor, Wendell Wyatt said he liked getting a close-up view of the eagle. "I learned a lot of details about the bald eagle," he said.

Joan Seabaugh, a teacher from Meadow Heights at Patton, who was among those in attendance, said she liked the presentation. "It's as close as I'll ever get to an eagle," Seabaugh said.