In Which an Eagle Circles Over the Lake

Three views of pretty sunshine from Friday morning ride--Rockwell Collins pond on C Avenue (top), hillside approaching MMU (middle) and Catherine McAuley's halo gets a little bright on Rohde Plaza (bottom). Blue sky day.

Winter is slowly losing its grip on my corner of the hemisphere. While part of this week will be too wet for riding and there was fresh snow Saturday, Sunday was quite warm. I didn’t have time for a long ride, which was probably OK, given how slushy the world was.

And there was Friday, which was a cool day but nice by winter standards.

I rode to work in the morning by the direct route, admiring the sunshine. I left work about 4 in the afternoon, and decided to take the longer Cedar River Trail route home—swinging by Cedar Lake before heading north.

I had not been to the lake for a while, and enjoyed seeing the crowded patch of open water at the lake’s north end. It was crowded with geese and a few ducks, and sounded like a busy cocktail party. I shot some images and moved one.

But a particular bird caught my eye, flying high above the others in a straight line headed southeast. It was a bit distant, but unmistakable—white tail feathers and white head gleaming in the afternoon sun.

Your eyes may be playing tricks on you--in the above picture, three geese are near the middle of the lake. Higher and farther away, that is no goose. The bird in front with the straight wings is a soaring eagle. Below, the eagle has wheeled away from the lake and is heading west, probably for the dam area of the Cedar River. In profile, I think you can see it's an eagle more easily, with the naked eye it was much more obvious.

I instantly wished I had my good camera with a long lens. Fortunately, the bald eagle interrupted its straight flight and circled for a while near the south end of the lake before turning and heading west.

As you can see, it was a pretty winter day. And in this part of Iowa, in 2018, eagles are not incredibly rare. Still, I think this was the clearest sighting I’ve had in recent months, and there’s still something awe inspiring about the sight of an eagle.

It should rain tomorrow—and I don’t do cold rain, even on my winter beater bike. We’ll see when I can get back in the saddle, but it shouldn’t be long. I did a short ride to and from the gym today, just one day after fresh snow fell, and it felt good.

Not as good as Friday—no eagles—but it seems biking weather is coming back!

Other Friday views--sunshine through park trees on J Avenue in the afternoon on my way to the trail.

Just a small selection of the large bird party going on in the patch of open water at the north end of Cedar Lake.

Low sun looking west on trail by lake.

End of trail loop, I've circled the lake counterclockwise and am nearing the T intersection to turn north.