Birds of a Feather…

Stick together. And together we came.

Saturday was our Five River MetroParks/Eastwood Eagle Watchers 2nd annual meet the Bald Eagles event at Eastwood Lake MetroPark. Last year’s inaugural event was held on February 3rd, a frigid Superbowl Sunday when a few dozen brave souls joined us in the frozen tundra to shiver together and talk eagles. This year there was more time to plan, schedule and prepare. MetroPark’s Lauren Stayer Asquith had contacted me late last spring to see if we wanted to repeat the event in 2014. She suggested a later, and much warmer, date during the time that Jim and Cindy would be incubating their eggs. The March 8th date fit their schedule as well as Jim and Cindy’s and allowed them to advertise the event in their Pathways publication and on their webpage, plus it allowed them to ask people to preregister so we would have some idea of what to prepare for. They dubbed this year’s event Soaring Eagles and Quacking Ducks Along the Mad River. The plan was that The Eastwood Eagle Watchers would open the festivities and then Lauren would address the waterfowl on Eastwood and Huffman Lakes.

As the date approached two unanticipated factors came into play. The first was that the surface of Eastwood Lake was still 98% frozen from the stubborn winter weather. This left only a small section of open water to attract migrating and local waterfowl. The second factor was that recent rains and melting snow had caused the Mad River to flood into Huffman Lake and although the water had receded, the road that accesses the lake was covered with a slippery layer of mud and therefore had been closed to traffic.

The day before the event just under 50 people had preregistered.

I arrived on Saturday morning an hour before the 10:00 starting time and began setting things up. The 40-degree air and hazy skies carried a welcomed promise of spring. Around 45 minutes later the first few cars began to trickle in. Then the trickle became a stream and the stream became a river of cars. As 10:00 approached the roadway along the eastern end of the lake was lined with parked vehicles. I was thrilled!

Before the start of the activities Lauren counted 120 people with many still arriving! As she started the event she asked the assembled crowd how they had heard about the meeting and again I was thrilled when the majority raised their hands to signify that they had learned of the event through this blog. Thank You! (You see, I am a three-finger-typist. Though each post on our blog flows straight from my heart, through my fingertips and onto this keyboard, I often begin a post at 9 PM and find myself hitting the publish button at 2 AM. I am sooooo sloooow. [Of course there is some editing in there and a few cups of coffee, resulting in a few trips to the bathroom, and our silly Golden Retriever can never decide which side of the back door she prefers to be on.] But it is a labor of love. Sometimes in the stillness of the night and the glow of my laptop’s screen I wonder about if my musings are having an impact. Part of the mission of our group is to educate people about the Bald Eagle and to share Jim and Cindy’s beauty and story, so it was reassuring to know that this blog is meeting those goals.) But my biggest thrill came by seeing the faces of the children as they saw how big an eagle really is or as they tried to view the nest through one of the many scopes aimed in the direction of the well field. They are building memories and relationships with their parents, siblings and nature that will bless them for a lifetime. Here are a few pictures that Roger captured as the group arrived.

As I began typing (an hour and a half ago [I told you I was slow.]) there were 351 followers of this blog! That means that 351 people have entered their email address into the little box on the right side of this page so they can receive an email notice every time I publish a new post. That too makes me smile because when Lauren introduced me she said that Dayton’s pair of nesting Bald Eagles were “the worst kept secret in town”. I have to agree. I talk to so many people who are surprised to hear about Jim and Cindy. Some look at me like I am pulling their leg. You would think that through Boonshoft, Five River MetroParks, The Eastwood Eagle Watchers and having a 7-foot nest in a tree (not to mention two or more birds with 7-foot wingspans flying along our rivers that parallel our highways) people would catch on.

Thank you all for sharing Jim and Cindy’s story with others. Thank you to all of you who were able to join us on Saturday. Hopefully I will get to meet more of you next year. If you were able to join us please let me know how we did by commenting below or contacting us at eastwoodeaglewatchers@gmail.com.

And a big thank you to Lauren, Roger and Martha for your participation in this event.

Eagle People are truly birds of a feather and I am truly blessed.