eagles!

Sunday morning we got up way too early and caravanned with some nice people from the DNR to a remote location for a sunrise eagle watch. There were probably about 15 vehicles in the caravan. We weren't expecting a lot, just hoping to see an eagle or two, and we didn't even fully understand the location or how they even knew there would be eagles there. In fact, we almost skipped it in favor of just trying to find an eagle on our own.

Well. Color us surprised! The viewing site was a country road that paralleled an old covered bridge (so pretty! so dilapidated!), and the eagles were nesting nearby on their southern journey. We learned that they come there every year. It's one of their routine stops. They go south until an area freezes over, then they go further south until that area freezes over, and then in the spring they reverse the process. Bald eagles, by the way, and mostly juveniles at that, easily identified by their white armpits.

We had to wait a while for the sun to come up, and there was some grumbling among the children about how BORING everything is, but then, just after sunrise, against a backdrop of dark, fast-moving clouds, the first bird left its nest and flew right over our heads. It was followed by another, and another, and eventually DOZENS more. The lady from the DNR (who, by the way, was extraordinarily nice and helpful and informative, and who even loaned Max a pair of binoculars) tried to count them, but gave up after she hit 37. They filled up the sky and were doing this thing called kettling, where they go out and then back. They were circling around each other and playing in the air.

It was truly an incredible thing to watch. I'm so glad we didn't skip this.