Today while I was minding my own business, my sister sent me a miraculous gift that perhaps she didn’t even know she sent. This livestream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/3064708) allowed me to intrude on the lives of a parent and offspring, watching and listening to what was in my sight and hearing one of the most beautiful things I’ve been privileged to witness in a really long time. To be able to do so from the comfort and ease of my computer is remarkable and a blessing that I hope to take advantage of from time to time as long as the feed/stream exists. This particular “eagle cam” is the Decorah Eagle Cam from the Raptor Resource Project in Decorah, Iowa.
I started writing this post this morning after I discovered the stream on my sister’s Facebook page. When I got home from work and sat down to write I started wondering what the noise coming from my computer was. It was the night sounds coming from the live feed of the happenings in the eagle’s nest. I returned to site and watched in fascination for another quarter hour enthralled by the simple beauty of this natural scene. I am a nature lover, and am so grateful to have spent much of my childhood living and playing in a three-plus acre back yard. I grew up loving all kinds of animals, birds, even insects, reptiles, and amphibians. And even though I currently live in an urban area, I am always delighted by nature wherever I find it. As I watched the mother eagle tending to her eaglets I found myself curious about eagles so I went to “the Google” and asked a question about eagles. Lo and behold, I discovered that there are eagle cams are everywhere and watched nests from Virginia, Iowa, and a few right here in California. (http://www.iws.org/interactive_nestchat_allUstream.html).
Near where I live I don’t have occasion to see eagles, but I find that I am always entertained and never bored with the antics of the neighborhood wild turkeys. I am not certain why I am so intrigued by these large birds (called “earth eagles” by some Native American tribes). They are part of my daily life–my bedroom window looks out over the parking lot of our complex. Behind the lot is a wooded area which is, I believe, where the turkeys roost. I hear them gobble past the window in the early morning (between 5:30 and 6:00) and hear them gobble back through in the evening. During the daytime, they range in the hills around the complex, and clearly our parking lot is their thoroughfare. I’d never been close to wild turkeys in the past, but this year they have become my favorite wild thing. They aren’t terribly intelligent, but are highly entertaining. I have photographed them under a variety of interesting circumstances. Besides their entertainment value, they are actually beautiful birds.
One could suggest that it doesn’t take much to make me happy. (I’m sure there are plenty of people who would argue that it takes a great deal to make me happy.) But put me out in nature in some capacity in which I can sit in and interact with the natural world and I am one happy camper. I am grateful to have discovered the eagle’s nest this morning. I plan to visit it regularly, especially while the eaglets are still young and living in the nest. In the meantime, I will continue to draw inspiration and chuckles from my friends the earth eagles who hang out around my house. I am grateful for such simple pleasures and cheap entertainment.
Today has been a really good day. Another regular sort of day with writing and work and a dozen other things to be grateful for. And here at the close of the day I am grateful beyond measure.
"They Couldn't Possibly Mean Me..."
