The story behind the photo and video.
Friday afternoon, around 3 p.m., my cell phone rang. It was Bluffton Police Officer Rhodes. He told me that he spotted two American Bald Eagles in the field across the Maple Crest and wondered if I was interested.
Before his statement was finished I had grabbed my camera and was heading out the door. On my way the cell phone rang again. It was Lynda Best. Her husband saw the eagles and called her. She call me, too.
I have a 300 mm zoom lens for bird watching, so I figured where ever these birds were I could locate them.
Sure enough. There they stood in the Del and Susie Gratz field, across the road from Maple Crest. Very honestly, it was an odd sight.
I snapped some photos and then turned on the video. Realizing that the birds weren't moving much, I considered walking toward them to get a closer look. The field was muddy and quite honestly I didn't really know how not one, but two birds of prey would react to me heading in their direction. I really didn't care to test them.
So, I watched from my car. They took off about one minute later, flying toward Tom Fett and Grove Roads. One of the birds (on the right) appeared to be younger than the other. I have a feeling we'll see more of these birds.
It makes you wonder: Where is the nest? What are they eating? Will there be more Bald Eagles here?
These two eagles join the list of unusual birds to fly the skies of Richland Township in recent years. Several years ago a Snowy Owl was spotted in rural Beaverdam. Remember the Ruddy Duck in the Buckeye, and the hummingbird that nearly wintered over at the Houshower's on Riley Street? Oh, and don't forget the turkey vultures who have made Bluffton their summer home in recent years.
As a post script to this story: A little over one year ago Mary and I were walking around the Buckeye - without a camera. There in a tree on the south bank perched another Bald Eagle. We watched it for a minute or two and it finally took off. It was one of the most magnificant sights I'd ever witnessed.
