What got into Spirit on Saturday?
The Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center has no idea.
“Honestly, we don’t know what distracted him,” a SRRC staffer posted in a Facebook status update this morning. “Spirit is still a wild bird and can sometimes be unpredictable. Our staff is always prepared for situations like this one.”
For what it’s worth, one theory offered in a comment on YouTube’s “Best Crowd Reaction” video of the eagle’s pregame flight suggests Spirit was trying to front with “another large bird roosting in the rafters”:
I was standing under the Eagle and when at the wall. What you can’t see in the video, and most people missed all together was another large bird roosting in the rafters. If you watch the flight of the Eagle you can tell when he passes that spot, something catches he’s eye. He immediately circled back and attacked that other large bird. It was very scary to be so close
Whatever happened, Spirit seems to be doing fine—an earlier update from the SRRC thanked Auburn fans for their concern and added “Spirit is doing well and as feisty as ever.”
h/t @AtlantaAUClub.
Related: Photos of “eagle grease” on Auburn luxury box window.
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I just figured after he couldn’t get into the skybox, he tried to find a seat in the club level. He probably figured, “If I’m such a VIP, its about time they find a VIP worthy seat for me. I am tired of getting toted around in that dog crate!” But the other bird thing makes sense too, I guess.
It’s Spirit’s house (and Nova’s). They don’t take too kindly to squatters.
What happened is the two main raptor center trainers aren’t doing their jobs. They’ve been working there since 2004 and they still can’t get Nova to be consistent. Spirit is a very reliable bird. But when you don’t practice and aren’t consistent with your training you get the inconsistent performances we have seen the past two years. Of course I wouldn’t expect two people that didn’t earn their jobs to produce quality results consistently.