In May 2011, after four years of life on McNutt's Island, we moved to Montreal. This blog remains, though, as a (sort of) daily record of our time on the island, and a winding path for anyone who would like to meander about among its magical places. For additional perspectives and insights I recommend Greg's book, Island Year: Finding Nova Scotia (2010), and my Bowl of Light (2012). I'll continue to post once in a while. If you do want to read this blog, one option would be to begin at the beginning of it (which is, as we all know, in blog-world, at the end), and read forward, concluding with the most recent entry. It's a journal, really, so it does makes more sense if you read it that way. But, you know, read it any way you like.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Bald eagle sighting

We have been watching for the bald eagles. Last year we began to see the first pair of them in mid February, though for a few days we couldn't quite believe our eyes.  "Are there eagles on the island?" we demanded of anybody we could find to ask. "Maybe," they would say. "Could be." These were not satisfactory answers. I'd stare out the breezeway window for minutes on end, looking. And once, as I pored over the eagle picture in my Birds of North America, I thought I saw the real thing winging past, as if to teach me a lesson about where to look. So this year we have been ready, and waiting.

I thought I saw one earlier this week. It glided over my head while I was hanging out the clothes, but I couldn't make a definite claim to it.  Yesterday, though, Greg saw it flying along the shore, heading south toward the cove, in the direction of its nest. Though it seems that it's hard to miss an eagles' nest, it being nine feet wide and all, we haven't yet found it.  Maybe this year we will make a wider, more thorough search. 

I do not think it coincidental that for two years in a row we have sighted the eagles in mid February.  They have their patterns, and slowly we will learn them. 

As spectacular a creature as it is, the eagle does not call attention to its arrival. It just arrives, and it's up to us to notice it.    

Image from Birds of Nova Scotia, courtesy of The Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History.

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