February 19: Fly like an eagle

Driving to the bar

eagle soaring overhead

I am uplifted

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February 6: US Toboggan Championships

Above the sledders,

partyers, skiers: blue sky,

one eagle soaring.

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September 12: The world is new

I awake to crows

telling loud eagle stories--

first light on the ash.

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August 25: Neighborhood gang

Behind the green leaves

cacophany of crows

and one unmoved eagle.

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March 27: One morning on the river

Complexity science

and "the edge of chaos":

crows mobbing an eagle.

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January 30: While you're away

Eagle flies through snow

carrying my thoughts upriver

past your empty house.

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June 11: Flying right over our heads

We felt its shadow
as it soared low overhead--
eagle, talons out.

March 14: Lo, on high, yon Bald Eagle!

The crows are pissed
but my spirits soar in blue skies
with that eagle.

Do you see the eagle waaaay up in the sky?

February 10: Blue sky, white snow

Today couldn't have dawned more differently from yesterday's howling blizzard that created monster snow drifts and shook limbs off trees. Sunshine, blue sky, double-digit temperatures, and shining white snow to play in made it a day to be outside.

I spent most of my time outside helping to park cars for the US National Toboggan Championships at the Camden Snow Bowl, which because of the storm was condensed from a weekend event to a one-day event. I can't imagine a livelier place to have been, with the costumed toboggan racers, festive atmosphere, and snow-covered mountains. A boom box out on the ice blasted disco music, and people had built ice-fishing shacks and igloos from which to host on-ice parties. After a day trapped inside by the storm, the whole community seemed really happy to be able to romp in the snow and cut loose together.

Eagle soaring past again--
perhaps it too rejoices
in the wide open blue sky.

February 5: Downtown eagle

I was in the middle of the crosswalk in downtown Camden's busiest intersection this morning when an adult Bald Eagle soared overhead, white head and tail shining in the sun. I gestured to the driver of the car stopped for me, urging her to look up, and she saw it too. The sighting was even more fun for being shared with a stranger.

Later, at the office, two eagles flew downriver right past our windows. An eagle kind of day.

Eagle flying over Main Street--
sometimes I think
my town is a movie set.

January 28: Two goldfinches

Home sick today I spent almost the entire time on the couch, reading and napping with the cat stretched out alongside me. When I first got up, I had the good fortune to catch sight of an eagle flying upriver, white tail flared like a flag. It paused in the backyard until chased off by crows. That drama past, the rest of my day was occasionally brightened by the appearance of two goldfinches at the window feeder, taking their time each visit to chow down on the black oil sunflower seed.

Two finches feeding,

unaware of the impact

of their presence.

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January 26: Roadside hawks

With the hard crusty snow making it a challenge for birds of prey to hunt for rodents, more hawks and owls are visible perched in trees along road edges, watching for birds and rodents to emerge on the open edges. As I drove to Portland yesterday to join the tar sands oil pipeline protest, I counted two perched red-tails and one in flight being harassed by crows. On the way back north later that afternoon, I first saw two red-tails together in one tree, then a Bald Eagle flew over the road behind a flock of ducks, and then two more perched red-tails.

 

Fields of frozen snow.

As I speed past, hungry hawks

eye the roadside.

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November 21: Eagle visitation

Since my office is on the Megunticook River, we're often visited by geese, various ducks, and the occasional Osprey or Bald Eagle following the water path either inland to the lake or downriver to Camden Harbor. This morning before work, as I was out combing the bushes for a Pine Grosbeak, an eagle flew downriver to perch across the water right in front of me. Immediately, about a dozen ducks panicked and flew out of range.

The eagle preened and looked around for a while, but mostly just sat there--a full-grown adult with white head and tail, meaning it was at least four years old. With binoculars I could see its bright yellow bill and notice that its head feathers were a bit dingy. Perhaps it's the same bird we often see perched on that snag or on the dead tree at the edge of our parking lot. A little while after I went inside, my co-workers and I watched it fly low just past the office windows, giving us a perfect view. In this season of gratitude, I feel grateful indeed that eagles are a regular visitor to my neighborhood. And equally grateful that observing these dramatic birds of prey is just another, acceptable part of my work day.

Another work day,
another eagle. I hope
I never get used to it.

February 21: Eagle

Driving to the post office on my lunch break, I caught a glimpse of a large bird soaring over a downtown neighborhood: bald eagle! Its white tail caught the light as I drove past. Never get tired of that sight, even after seeing more than a dozen of them yesterday.

One more bald eagle--
yet still I slow down, look up
as it flies over.

January 8: Duck and Cover

My dad was very anxious to report to me an avian drama playing out at their house. Three bald eagles--two adults and one younger bird--were repeatedly diving at a little duck swimming around in the partially open water of the river in front of their house. One of the eagles would swoop down, and the duck would dive underwater to escape. It would stay under for a while, but when it finally popped up for air, another eagle would attack again. My dad theorized that they were trying to exhaust the duck to the point at which one of them could catch it. Its compatriots waited on the ice and in a tree, no doubt prepared to battle the hunter for the eventual prey. Diving underwater was the duck's only hope for survival, as out of water, it would have indeed become a sitting duck, an easy mark.

The tactic paid off. The eagles moved on for easier prey, and the duck lived to see another day.

Three eagles, one duck.
Sometimes the odds mean nothing:
lucky duck escaped.