BLOOMINGTON - Not wanting to upset the egg basket, officials at Miller Park Zoo have rethought an earlier decision to examine two eagle eggs laid in captivity at the Bloomington facility last week. | Photo gallery

Zoo director John Tobias earlier had said he planned to wait until Mother's Day to "candle" the eggs, which are considered a rare occurrence for zoos, to see if life is developing inside. The procedure is considered a routine, unobtrusive method requiring only that light pass through the shells.

But Tobias said Thursday he's decided against candling after consulting with Twin City veterinarian Matt Fraker, a past president of the John Wesley Powell chapter of the Audubon Society based in Bloomington.

The risk is slim that candling might upset their mother, Beauty, and cause her to reject the eggs, which are her first in 13 years at the zoo. But Tobias said why take any chance at all?

Beauty has been protective of the eggs. In addition, zookeepers have seen Mathata, the male who shares the enclosure, incubate the eggs while Beauty took a bath. Tobias thinks Mathata also is sharing the chore when Beauty takes time out to eat.

"We have something unique going here, and we would hate to be the ones who did them in," Tobias said.

"I would support that 100 percent," said Fraker, whose clinic, the Prairie Oak Veterinary Center in Normal, provides the zoo with veterinary services. "If these eggs are viable, you put them at risk handling them in any fashion. If they aren't viable, time will tell. Let's just leave things alone and see what happens."

Alan Jenkins, an eagle researcher at the Sutton Avian Research Center in Oklahoma where wild eggs and eggs laid by captive eagles were hatched in the past, also agreed with the decision.

"We candled hundreds of Bald eagle eggs here, several times each, and safely; it's rather standard procedure. But we didn't have to wrestle the eggs from protective adults. We used chickens as incubators. And after all candling, the eggs won't make any positive difference to the viability of the eggs. So, I understand their decision," he said.

If fertile, paternity of the eggs remains in doubt. Workers found the first egg April 24 and a second on April 27. They appeared when a wild Bald eagle spent several days near the eagle exhibit, which is not enclosed. Beauty and Mathata can't fly due to the injuries.

The incubation period of eagles is just over a month.