My daughter and I decided to go for a drive late this afternoon...though I have been wanting to head over into Illinois to try to capture some shots of the geese, the call of the Parke County Indiana lured me once again. To be more specific I want to go back to Bridgeton and get a new shot of the covered bridge there...this one is the new rebuilt bridge. Notice the ice in the picture at the left side, below below the dam....that gives you an idea of how cold it has been. The thought that crossed my mind when I first noticed the ice was tree mushrooms--called oyster mushrooms in the National Audubon's book of mushrooms.From there we went to Mansfield and north from there. We saw wild turkeys, several hawks, blue herons, and this guy here....a young bald eagle. We saw him once right below the damn...I had seen him from a distance the other day and at first assumed he was a buzzard. This time he was right over us and we could see he was a bird of prey and not a hawk.
As we left the place and was starting to pull out on the main road, I saw an adult bald eagle taking flight across the way....so we proceeded back the way we had come to follow the creek and hopefully see the eagle. We had not gone very far when my daughter spotted this guy...these pictures are cropped and reduced in size...if not for that you would see how blurry they are. Still a very exciting evening for us.
One thing that totally surprised me, he was not as easily spooked at the blue herons...they take flight at nothing. Part of the time I can slow down, but soon as I start to roll my window down they take flight. This guy, he just sat. I got out of the car and walked a little bit nearer, and finally waved my arms to get him to fly. I wanted him to fly one way, but instead he flew the other.
When I was a kid, I would never in my life have dreamed I would get to see bald eagles in the wild. For that matter, didn't think I would see wild turkeys. Or coyotes. I see the turkeys on a regular basis, see coyotes fairly often, eagles not so often. But you can bet I will be heading back to this place every chance I get...I just wish I had a longer lens! And that I didn't get so excited...
