Grandfather Mountain, the not-for-profit nature park run by Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, is welcoming a new member to its eagle habitat: Leroy, a bald eagle who is beaming with character.
Leroy arrived at Grandfather Mountain in July of 2025. He came from Oklahoma, where a group of fishermen found him stranded on the bank of a large lake. The fishermen reported Leroy to the staff at Wild Heart Ranch, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center, who discovered that he had an injury to his left wrist. This injury resulted in permanent changes to Leroy’s left carpus, which does not allow the normal range of motion required for sustained flight. Due to this, Leroy cannot be released back into the wild and was in need of a new home.
Grandfather’s habitat staff learned about Leroy during their search for a new bald eagle. Under the care of his Oklahoma rehabilitators, he recently made the cross-country trip by vehicle to the mountain.
“When Leroy first arrived, he was naturally a bit nervous,” said Deborah Anderson, animal habitats assistant curator for the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation. “For the first week or so we allowed small, controlled groups through the eagle habitat to keep Leroy’s nerves at bay. We continued to do our 12:30 p.m. Eagle Talk and he tolerated that very well.”
Leroy is believed to be a young eagle due to some remaining brown feathers in his head. He is approximately 4 to 5 years old. “Bald” refers not to the white head, but to the piebald (black and white) adult plumage. The adult bald eagle is blackish brown and assumes a snow-white head and tail when it reaches maturity. The adult male bald eagle usually measures 2.5 to 3 feet long with a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet.
Leroy shares his habitat at Grandfather Mountain with another bald eagle, Griffin. Griffin came to the mountain from the wilds of Nebraska, where he suffered severe head trauma rendering him unable to find and catch food.
“Leroy and Griffin seem to not mind each other much, which is exactly what we had hoped for,” said Christie Tipton, animal habitats curator for the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation.
Prior to Leroy, Griffin shared his habitat with a bald eagle named Ajax, who passed on Feb. 5 this year. Ajax spent nearly a decade of his life at Grandfather Mountain and loved to play in the pond and enjoy the trout that were provided as an enrichment. He could even be found, at times, sharing a perch with Griffin.
Though a new move can always be a bit unnerving, Leroy has been utilizing his cave and the perches in the eagle habitat so that he can feel safe while he observes guests as they pass through. When louder crowds roam through the habitats, Leroy is still a bit uneasy but, overall, he is acclimating well to life on the mountain.
“We are proud to see that he is adjusting so quickly,” said Tipton. “This process has been very smooth, and it is exciting to see that Leroy is eating well and has turned out to be a rather chatty bird!”
To learn more about bald eagles, or to see Leroy, guests should attend a Keeper Talk daily from now through November 9. Keeper Talks about the mountain’s resident eagles take place at 12:30 p.m. at the eagle habitat. This is a great opportunity to learn more about animals and see them receive an enrichment from one of the mountain’s keepers. To learn more about Keeper Talks, visit www.grandfather.com/daily-programs.
Wildlife Habitats at Grandfather Mountain offer the chance to see black bears, river otters, cougars, elk and eagles. All of the animals on the mountain are, or once were, native to the area and have been placed in Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation’s care for various reasons that prevent them from surviving on their own in nature. The nature park’s environmental habitats are large enclosures that allow visitors to see animals in natural settings. Plan your trip to the mountain today at www.grandfather.com/visit.
Leroy will soon be added to the organization’s Adopt-an-Animal program, with each adoption helping to enrich the lives of the habitat animals living at the mountain. Learn more at www.grandfather.com/adopt.