| Hardy Lake Eagles My husband George and I search the parks and woods for beautiful bird images. I had always wanted to see an eagle close up, searching over hill and dale, threatening to get hip waders and wade out into the marsh waters of Muscatatuck refuge. The last time hubby and I were out to Lake Hardy, I said, “honey, do you think there are any eagles out here? He said, “Someone said they saw one flying in the sky out here one day”. We went on home that day, after chasing a group of wild turkeys over the picnic area and everywhere, but we got beautiful images of those wild turkeys. We came home totally happy and refreshed after watching a Northern Mockingbird playing in the bushes. Those birds just fulfill my expectations of a beautiful bird. She sat there and watched us, never moving a wing. They are so beautiful and I cannot wait until a pair move into our yard and distribute their children everywhere. To me there isn’t anything quite as beautiful as a baby bird; any baby bird gets my heart to pumping faster. I had a beautiful baby black bird in my yard last year and it just thrilled me to pieces. He thought I was kind of silly, though because I followed him everywhere, I just had to know what made him so adorable. As a baby, he was very beautiful and then I watched him grow up and now this 2005 spring, we have enough crackles for everyone in Indiana. I still think they’re beautiful, (please don’t think I’m silly). Their eyes are like evil aren’t they? But oh, well, we all have to survive, don’t we, even those big huge black birds, the common crackle. I have beautiful images of them. I can’t help but love them! They eat beside our chipmunk, the chipmunk has one side of the feeder and the crackles have the other side. I feed them so much seed; I guess I’m going to have to get a second job. On the second day of spring, hubby and I packed some snacks and drinks and headed back out to the lake. It’s so beautiful out there in the spring; when we were raising our children, five of them in all, one of our favorite places to go was Lake Hardy. We would grab a pack of hambuger and buns to go along with it, some chips and drinks and head to the picnic area, cooking on top the hill on many late summer afternoons. We took them on hikes and let them enjoy the beautiful outdoors of Gods creation. Many Sundays we grabbed out swimsuits and headed for the beach, it only cost us one dollar and fifty cents to get us in to go swimming. With five beautiful children, what more could I ask? Of course they loved it. We would stay till sunset and then head on back home, the children red all over, tell tale signs of a good time at the lake. They were so water logged; they sometimes fell asleep on the way home. On this particular day, the second day of spring, we wasn’t really expecting anything out of the ordinary, any bird would have make me happy. We rode around for awhile just watching the skies and devouring our cheese crackers and big red, and then I looked to the left in this big tall tree and my heart went thumpty thumpty and I screamed “honey it’s an eagle”. He throwed on the brake and we just sat there for a minute and he said, “It is, It is”! He turned the motor off in the middle of the road, and I said, “Honey, let’s ease it on over very quietly”! We got as close as we could without drawing his attention. We just sat there and those cameras went wild for about 10 minutes. Then honey said, “I’m going to sneak out of the car to get a little closer view, I said, “me too”! Both car doors opened at the same time and we were outside headed that way, then wings went in the air and he took off out over that beautiful blue lake. What a thrill! We got back in the car and started looking for smaller prey, finding a squirrel up high in a tree, just having an evening snack of tree buds. Two white tailed deer ran in front of the car headed for the feeding grounds. The sun was trying to disappear over the mountain and I said, “Please, Mr. Sun, don’t leave us now”! We just rode around for about 10 minutes and I said, just per chance, let’s go see if that eagle has come back to that same tree. We headed back down that way, and lo and behold, there he was, not only was he there, but a female eagle having supper. He stood guard watching her like any good husband eagle should do. We figured he went fishing for her and then brought it back and watched over her while she ate. We turned the motor off and let the old Bronco just slide on over the mountain, she stopped in just the right spot. Suddenly, I watched hubby open his car door, and head into the woods. I decided it was too much of a chance for both of us to get out again, I didn’t want to see them fly away. Besides the lady eagle was having fish for supper. I just watched the eagles watch him. They kept a really good eye on him, never offering to leave or anything. He got just below them and started snapping images. I enjoyed the look on his face more than watching the eagles. It was the look of a 7 year old boy with his first bicycle. I shot some pictures of the scenery while he shot the eagles. I will never ever forget this day as long as I live, it was a day made in Heaven. I thank God for letting us have such a beautiful moment. Background scenes by: Mary Alice Bowles story by: Mary Alice Bowles -freelance writer -southern Indiana 3/25/05 |
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| All eagle pictures coprighted by the personal copyright of: George W Bowles, Sr. 2005 |
| HARDY LAKE EAGLES |
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| LIVES FOREVERMORE |
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| LIVES FOREVERMORE |
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