"That's A Big Bird--Wait, Is That A...?

 During a lazy afternoon after a morning or organizing and box moving, my wife and I were taking a break in our front room. The room has a smaller window to the east, and a larger one to the west. The west window gives us a great view of the western sky. We've seen some amazing sunsets in the few months we've lived in our new house.

My wife first spotted it...a bird flying in the west. Its trajectory would have it fly directly over our house. "That's a big bird," she said. She watched it come closer--I was clueless. When she spoke her aviary observation aloud, I looked up and agreed with her assessment...it was a big bird.

I stood up to get a better look. As I did, the bird got closer, and bigger.

"Wait," she said. "Is that a bald eagle?"

It was.

And I've never seen one so close.

I live in the west, near large bodies of water. Large bodies of water attract waterfowl, and waterfowl attract predatory birds, like hawks and eagles. Only a few miles from the house where I lived for decades is a nesting site for bald eagles. I drove out there once, but no eagles. Several years ago I was at scout camp with my son and I heard an eagle cry. It's possible I could have spotted an eagle, but I'm not 100% sure. 

But today, we were sure--it had a white head and tail.

I hurried out the front door hoping to get a picture of it. I did get a picture of it, but you cannot tell what kind of bird it is from the picture. If I were thinking, I might have been able to snap a picture as it majestically floated over our house. We now live about twenty miles from a world-famous bird refuge. Hopefully, we'll see more amazing birds this spring and summer.

On a lazy afternoon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a beautiful bald eagle soared over our little house. That's not a bad thing.