I grew up in suburban Rockland County, NY. There were lots of songbirds there, and the occasional hawk, but I'd never seen a bald eagle in the wild around there (let's face it: there isn't much "wild" in Pearl River, except for the annual St. Patrick's Day parade!). The only one I'd seen was in captivity at the Trailside Zoo at Bear Mountain — which is a great place to visit, by the way.
Like I'd mentioned in a previous blog post, we have family in Wisconsin, kind of in the north-central part of the state, just outside Eau Claire. My sister-in-law's family owns a cabin on a beautiful lake in Birchwood, about an hour north of their home. I was sitting on the shore of the lake one August — about 20 years ago or so — and I saw a big bird fly overhead. It had a white head and a white tail. "That looks like a bald eagle!" I thought to myself. "But I'm not going to say, 'Hey, there's an eagle!' Eagles don't live in the wild." Then my brother-in-law Billy said, "Did you see that eagle? We get them a lot around here!"
Fast-forward five years: Our Marty is a Boy Scout, and his troop visits Rio Reservoir in Sullivan County to go eagle-watching. Prime viewing time is between 7 and 9 a.m. Getting bundled up on a cold, windy January morning is not my ideal way to spend the weekend, but it pays off: We're driving to the reservoir, the Scoutmaster leading the way, when suddenly he slows down, rolls down his window, and gesticulates wildly at the embankment rising from the road to the left. Turns out he saw a bobcat!
We park near the huge dam at the reservoir and start looking for eagles. The action of the water tumbling over the dam breaks up the fish that swim too near the edge, making a tasty, easy-to-digest breakfast for the 37 (!) eagles we spot. We all dash up and down the walkway above the dam, pointing out adult eagles, juvenile eagles, eagles that are flying or perched on the big branches of the ancient trees flanking the water. Our Tommy is about a year-and-a-half old, and he toddles around, following us as fast as he can, and a Scout dad warns that his one-piece snowsuit would make it easy for an eagle to snag him for breakfast! I laugh along with the others, but sidle over to my baby and scoop him up, nervously eyeing the nearby raptors.
Since then, we've seen eagles near our house, in the woods and along the Shawangunk Kill. I even had a hand in rescuing one.
A couple of Aprils ago, I was driving to work on Route 84 in the Town of Newburgh. It was a Monday, and construction had slowed traffic to a crawl. I was bemoaning the traffic, creeping along in the left lane near the exit for Stewart International Airport, when I spied a large bird on the median, dangerously close to the yellow line. As I drove past, I saw it was nearly as tall as the door handle of my car, its feathers were all rumpled, and it was wobbling back and forth. Once I got to work, I texted a family friend who works for the Department of Environmental Conservation, and he sent some officers out to investigate.
It was a juvenile eagle, about 2 1/2 years old, he later said. It appeared underweight and suffering from possible lead poisoning. After capturing it, one of the officers took its picture and my friend sent the photo to me, which is the photo at the top of this post. I don't know the fate of that bird. I only hope it survived, and I'm at least grateful to have had a small part in saving it from being struck on that spring morning.
Eager for eagles yourself? There are plenty of places to see them around Sullivan County, as well as pretty much anywhere along the Hudson River. Teatown Lake Reservation in Westchester County hosts an Eaglefest in early February each year (Missed it? There's a smaller eagle event there on March 8 this year). If you want to have even more fun, launch a kayak at the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area to see the huge eagle's nest at the wetlands (just don't paddle close to the trees and disturb the eagles). During the summer, the Bashakill Area Association hosts Nature Watchers who are a trove of information about the majestic birds who call this area home.
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