Tuesday 7 March 2017

Remember to Look Up

Summer ended and autumn began with much rain and mist. Yesterday, after what seemed like about two weeks of grey, wet weather, the sun reemerged, and I went out in the afternoon to make the most of it. Imagine my surprise when I looked up into the sky and saw two flocks of birds, flying in lazy circles, soaring against the backdrop of a fat white cloud. I could not think what they could be, though my heart said: Eagles! 

I did not think that eagles flew in groups—in this case, two flocks of about eight birds each—though my Birds of the Blue Mountains does say that wedge-tailed eagles hunt singly, in pairs or in small parties. As I watched they moved higher and higher, until they were barely visible, and few other birds, as far as I am aware, fly at such altitude. 

I wanted to take a photo, as proof of what I was seeing; or at least to find some binoculars. But the sight was so wondrous, so magical, that I knew I couldn’t waste time running inside to find my camera. I needed to live it, let it wash over me.

I thought to myself, If I had not gone outside, and looked up, I would not have seen this, and felt blessed that I had. 

Was what I was seeing unusual? Or something relatively common, just seldom seen, because I have failed to look up and take notice?

Either way, I think perhaps the eagles were enjoying the sunshine just as much as I was, dancing their joy in a newly blue sky.

(I could be wrong, of course. Perhaps they were not eagles at all. But I prefer to believe that they were.)


6 comments:

  1. I had a similar experience last autumn, Therese - out for a scoot, I looked up and saw 3 birds circling the church steeple, they swooped and flew in formation for what felt like an age catching the thermals...
    I later learnt there is a buzzard family in the village, I believe that's what I saw that day. It was a magical time out of time experience and SUCH a blessing!

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    1. Wow! Lucky you. I love it when these things happen—not that they happen specifically for us—but we can find the magic in them, and carry it with us.

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  2. Wonderful! Seeing eagles or hawks circling high in the sky always uplifts me, their presence feels like a blessing from the wild sky. We've had 40MPH north winds here for the past couple of days, not good flying weather for the birds now migrating north, but the clouds are like gigantic white swans swimming past....

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    1. I've only ever seen single eagles before, and only a few times, so this was rather astonishing, and it was indeed a blessing. They were truly dancing up there. It lifted my heart.

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  3. There is an eagle feeding station near my forest home and there are often 20-30 eagles at a time, eating, sitting on trees or flying around. It´s quite a magical experience seeing so many eagles, I don´t think I´ll ever get used to it.
    Eagles were almost extinct over here a few decades ago, but drastic measures such as feeding and banning of certain toxins (DDT) helped save them. (Eagles are still endangered here though.)

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    1. That sounds amazing. And it's good to hear that the eagles in your part of the world have been saved from extinction, even if they are still endangered. We're losing so much, but we should be grateful for every species that is saved. We need the apex predators.

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