Weekly musings on the arts and current events.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Sequim, Washington


An existential question: what would you do? A flock of bald headed eagles--a flock, mind you--appears before your eyes. Four perch on ghostly wooden pilings, the ruins of a washed away pier on Puget Sound. A fifth circles above, joyriding on the April breeze during a sun shower. At hand are a pair of binoculars and a small camera. Which do you choose? The binoculars, to peer into the eyes of the eagles? Or the camera, to record forever this lucky sighting, all five of them, albeit at a distance?
There's a third choice, of course: grab nothing. Watch them while you breathe in the air, feel the sunlit raindrops on your face, and listen to the eagles' scolding cries above the sound of the surf.


I won't say what I did, but I didn't take this picture.

3 comments:

Janie B said...

That would be something to behold.

DUTA said...

It's Spring - the perfect season for bald eagles to migrate and gather near large bodies of water and deserted piers. So,going to such a place at this time of the year, there should be no surprise about a sudden appearance of a flock of eagles.

My 'existential' instincts would tell me to beware of the fifth eagle, the one circling above; the other four could go on perching for hours, if uninterrupted.

I wouldn't go close to them trying to do things such as taking pictures, as they are sensitive to human activity, might get agressive and bite me with the beak or hurt me with their talons.
If there's a car, I would enter the car and watch the "lucky sight" through the window.

The eagle in the picture is very cute in his dark brown and white featherly 'outfit'. It's a good picture, taken by someone who probably has feelings for bird watching.

Paula Slade said...

Option three - you will remember it for your lifetime! :)