Before we were so beautifully interrupted by the cardinal seige, I was conteplating the continuation of an eagle search. I’d already been to the Great Lakes National Cemetary where I’d seen, from far away, the resident eagle and his nest. But it was still early and a beautiful day, maybe another eagle was waiting to be discovered at my favorite park.

Should I go look for it? Well of course I should.

So after some more mental arguing about other things I could be doing, mostly involving housework, I jumped back in the car and headed south to Kensington where eagles had been sighted at the heron rookery.

Not that I thought I’d be so lucky to find one there in the early afternoon. But it’s my favorite park and how could I go wrong, I knew I’d find something!

I took my time driving through the park, pulled up leisurely in a parking spot at the nature center. Even sat there awhile and looked at the eagle pictures I already had in my camera.

Then I looked up and spotted a big bump in the top of a tree. And me quite a ways away, with the wrong lens on the camera. Talk about unprepared.

I hustled over there, stopped at the first bench on the boardwalk and switched my lens, hoping he’d stick around long enough for me to get a shot, even if it wasn’t optimum.

He did. And he watched me the whole time too.

And apparently, when I took too long, he decided he’d had enough and he flew away…

…way over to a dead tree on the other side of the lake. With his back to those of us still photographing from the boardwalk.

I stayed and talked with another photographer while we waited to see where he’d go next. We hoped he’d come back to the rookery, but he decided to take a trip over to the back side of the lake where he was a tiny spot in the sky, lazily circling, checking out lunch prospects.

So I walked a bit on the trails, but they were covered in slippery ice and I was wearing old sneakers, so I didn’t stay long. I did manage to get some shots of some other, very cute, birds while I was there, and I’m sharing most of them here.

But..wait…did I show you the blue jays? Or the swans? No? Well, you have to see those. I guess another birdy type post is in order.

You can’t see too many birds…right?

Right.