A Morning to Remember

A Morning to Remember

When I awoke this morning at 4:30 and could not go back to sleep, I decided to make the most of it. So, I got out of bed at 5 a.m. and did some yoga.  I then made some coffee, took the dogs out for their morning routine and filled their bowls with food. With the dogs taken care of and Elizabeth still in bed, I decided to sit in one of our Adirondack chairs on the shore of the lake, sip my coffee and watch the sun rise.  On this particular morning, in addition to watching a beautiful dawn break over the water, I was about to witness some magic on and over the water.

As I sat down, a large blue heron, his leisurely stroll along our bulkhead interrupted, squawked his disapproval, arose awkwardly like a 747 into the air, but once air born, began to glide majestically along the surface of the lake, itself reflecting a deepening crimson sky.  I have seen my share of blue herons do this on the lake, but the backdrop of the coloring sky mirrored in the water made it truly peaceful. The heron’s squawking caused the bald eagles on the point – about 50 yards away – to begin chirping. Yes, believe me, bald eagles chirp.  It is such a funny sound to come from such a large bird.  The point is where they like to sit and watch for fish.

You could tell by the small splashes on the surface of the lake that the fish were actively feeding. So, it wasn’t long before I saw a large fish fling itself totally out of the water, curve itself in mid-air like an Olympic diver, and then belly flop back onto the surface. It landed with such a smack that the sound reverberated over the quiet lake. Hmm, I don’t see that very often. I gave the fish a score of 7.5 out of 10. It did not nail the landing.

I then happened to look down into the shallow water in front of me and saw a turtle pop its head out of the water. After a few minutes, it must have spotted me, and quickly ducked its head back under. I stood up and watched all 18 inches of its oval shaped shell glide along the bottom, its feet and reptilian tail propelling it to safety.  I see these turtle heads pop up all the time in our cove near our beach, but you rarely get to see them up close because they are such shy creatures. As I processed that moment, I heard what sounded like bark crumbling off of a tree, turned around and saw two squirrels scampering up and down the large oak next to our terrace. Not to be outdone, a crow, perched on our boathouse, began preening and cawing. Even the crow looked majestic with the rising sun as a backdrop. It finally flew off to join his other crow friends, creating a dawn chorus.  

As I sat there and thought about all of the magical moments I had just witnessed, I saw one of the bald eagles leave its perch on the point and circle over the lake right in front of me.  It then dove and plucked a fish out of the water.  I have seen them do this before, but again, the quietness of the morning seemed to make it more majestic.  As the eagle carried its prize back to the trees, I thought it would roost and share its prize with the other eagle. Instead, it flew through the trees towards me. The other bald eagle lifted off and followed the first towards me.  As both bald eagles arrived right over me, the first hesitated, circled back towards the second. And they seemed to do a little dance in mid-air with one still clutching a still wiggling fish in its talons. They were no longer chirping but were making big-sounding noises almost as loud as the blue heron.  They were obviously very excited. After a few seconds of this, they flew off across the cove, where I lost sight of them, but could hear the squawking and their bodies and wings banging against the limbs and leaves of the trees.

After processing this, I realized that in my hand was my phone, set on photo mode. All I had to do was point my phone at these two large birds and I may have snapped a National Geographic photo.  Those two magnificent birds, dancing in the air, were literally 20 yards over my head.  However, I was so stunned by the moment that I did not even think about snapping a photo -until it was too late.  Maybe it’s just as well.  As Elizabeth says, sometimes you just have to be in the moment. As I got up to walk back to the house to get ready for my Monday morning bible study, one of the bald eagles, talons empty, flew back across the lake to its perch on the point. Yes, this was a morning I will not soon forget.