Babbs in the Woods: ‘Baldly’ going where she bets everyone goes while sitting on a hard pew

You know how you can be sitting there in church thinking that someone needs to turn the ventilation system up a bit, and then, something will come to you? Maybe it’s a scripture passage or even a few lines from the pastor’s sermon and your mind just flies away thinking tangential thoughts stemming from one phrase? For a short while, last time I went to church – which was recently – I thought about two mornings I spent photographing bald eagles at a local trout park in Missouri.

When we sang the words, “I will rise on eagle’s wings,” that’s what did it. Actually, if I were to rise on eagles’ wings it would be plural and I reckon it would take at least 35 of them.

Away my mind went and I thought about how those two times of that week are the only part of that week in my life I now remember. Everything else fell into the “routine” category. Good, solid, but routine. And so, my point? If you can get outside this winter, and view birds, or fish, or strap on some snowshoes – you better get out there and do it, or else another week will go by and you won’t have anything to think about other than the grocery list — that is, if you admit that your mind occasionally wanders when you’re sitting in a pew.

The Bald Facts

• Half of the world’s 70,000 bald eagles live in Alaska
• Bald used to mean “white”
• Bald eagles mate for life, and the female lays from one to three eggs per year
• Incubation duties are shared by the male and female
• Eagles can dive at 100 miles per hour
• A female can be up to one-third larger than the male (so unfair)
• Wingspan ranges between 72 and 90 inches and can weigh up to 14 pounds
• A bald eagle might have 7,000 feathers
• Lifting power is 4 pounds
• A bald eagle might live to be 30
• Juvenile bald eagles are a mixture of brown and white and do not reach full maturity with white head until they are about four or five years old

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  Photo by Barbara Baird

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  About Barbara Baird

  Publisher/Editor Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in hunting, shooting and outdoor markets. Her bylines are found at several top hunting and shooting publications. She also is a travel writer, and you can follow her at https://www.ozarkian.com. View all posts by Barbara Baird →

   

The Conversation

3 Comments

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  Paige "Chicki Chicki" Eissinger says: January 23, 2010 at 9:23 am

  We see bald eagles very occasionally on Sunnyside Farm (always at a distance) and some of the photos that Jane has taken have been gorgeous, but neither of those compare to seeing so many of those majestic birds feeding and generally socializing with each other up close. Yep, it was cold enough to freeze the batteries in my camera, but it was great to be outside.
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  Women's Outdoor News says: January 23, 2010 at 8:40 am

  Hi Dawn, Good to hear from you on the site. I knew there were others out there who do the same thing, but do not “confess” to it! Have a great weekend? You going outside?
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  Dawn Gribb says: January 23, 2010 at 8:29 am

  Nice info. Yea, I admit it, my mind wanders all the time, unless of course it is a good sermon. But you are right, put on the right gear and go OUTSIDE. It is so refreshing!