On Thursday, I saw a bald eagle when I drove in to work. It flew over the river and ponds along U.S. 264 north of 10th Street.
We’ve written once or twice about their presence along the river. You can distinguish them when sunlight catches the white feathers on their tails and heads.
It was the fourth time I spotted one. I wonder if it has been the same one each time.
Lots of birds take flight in that patch of urban wilderness: I have seen geese, ospreys, egrets, plenty of turkey buzzards, and lots of songbirds that fiercely dive on hawks and crows. But the eagle’s appearance thrills me like none of the others.
I always take the sighting as good omens. The timing on this occasion struck me.
Not only because the Fourth was approaching, but I was thinking of the pelicans in the Gulf.
Knowing how the eagle has come back from near extinction gives me hope for the other birds.
It wasn’t more than five minutes after I saw that eagle on Thursday that I pulled into Sugg Parkway in Indigreen Corporate Park. It was about 9 a.m.
We see all kinds of creatures out here, but never have I seen this.
In a lot next to where ASMO is building its new warehouse, I saw a doe nudging her fawn along the brush line not more than 40 yards from the road.
The doe ran ahead of its mother. It could not have been more than a foot high.
An hour after that, a wonderful 12-year-old girl came to the newspaper with a platter of sea-turtle shaped sugar cookies. They were a perfect match with my morning coffee.
Her name is Casey Sokolovic. She’s organizing a coast-to-coast bake sale starting Friday to raise money to help sea turtles in the Gulf. Visit her website is www.bakeforoceanssake.com.
I finally got around to taking my own 12-year-old and my 9-year-old on Saturday to Green Mill Run, where I heard you could find shark teeth easily in the creek bed.
Sure enough, we weren’t there a minute and we were pulling teeth from the creek.
We also pulled out a bunch of bottles, bricks, a bicycle tire, hunks of metal, plastic and other junk.
A man caught our attention as we hauled our booty from the run. He was a regular who picked up litter in the park and thanked us for our efforts. He invited us to continue, and I invite you to do so as well.
Another parkgoer was a regular shark tooth hunter. He carried a shovel and what looked like a four-legged stool on his back. It wasn’t a stool but a sifter.
He gave the girls a couple big Maco teeth and a palm-sized fossil from a 50 million-year-old fish that he said predated the megaladon.
His generosity was the best find of the day.
Bobby Burns is buttociate editor, Internet news and information. Contact him at baburns@reflector.com or (252) 329-9572.
