This was the last weekend of the year, I was hoping to get in some miles, so we left in the early afternoon on Saturday. It was about 35-40 degrees, and we easily warmed up climbing the hill out of Cascades Park to the golf course. We rode Kinser Pike across the highway to Bottom Road. We were heading to Muscatatuck Wildlife Rufuge, about 24 mile out and back, following the Bean Blossom Valley north towards the White River, winding through some of Monroe county’s best farmland.
About halfway up Bottom Road, we were startled to see a big bird sweep across the road in front of us, and as we spotted the white tail and black body, we knew it was immature eagle, as the head was black, not white. It seemed the eagle flew from a perch in a roadside tree, and may have been eyeing a dead squirrel in the road. I threw it into the roadside, eagles shouldn’t have to compete with cars for space.
When we got to the wetlands, we ate some snacks and listened to the various ducks and geese on the ponds, and then suddenly a fully mature bald eagle flew up from wetlands and landed in a tree. We confirmed the sighting with my monocular, and watched him for a while, he flew back to the water, and then back to a tree again, apparently fishing.
On the way back, Jojo spotted 2 more bald eagles across a field they flew up into the trees as we rode by. His eyes are much sharper at a distance, I just could not see them in the trees. We passed the hillside where we spotted a murder of crows on the way out, the hundreds of birds we had seen were now gone. We climbed the hill with no real problems, I think it is easier to climb in cold weather, heat is the biggest problem I have in summer, you just can’t escape it. With the cold you can always peal off a layer, or hat, or gloves and get some relief.