I had quite an exciting experience the other Saturday when I was taking a load of shredded leaves to the Howard County Dump. I was driving on Folly Quarter Road when I spotted a rather large bird launch itself from a treetop.
There are lots of turkey vultures around here so that's what I was expecting. However, as I got closer to the bird, I saw (or rather didn't see) the bird's head and tail feathers. I thought that was rather strange until it dawned on me that what I was seeing was not a turkey vulture but a mature bald eagle!
Man, was I pumped. I wanted to pull over and get a better look at the eagle, but the shoulder wasn't very wide and I had a line of vehicles following me. I watched it as long as I safely could and hoped that I would see it again on my return trip. I couldn't wait to get home so that I could share my sighting with the folks from the Howard County Bird Club.
Jo Solem, one of the club officers responded to my email with some interesting facts: "It is always exciting to see a mature bald eagle. Not only do we have nesting eagles in the county, but sometimes additional eagles filter in and stay the winter as long as we have open water. Because eagles can range many miles in a day, there is a possibility of seeing one almost anywhere in the county. Although known for eating fish, they are opportunistic feeders and will occasionally be found with vultures feeding on a dead deer."
It's not very often that one sees a bald eagle "in the flesh," so to speak. Other than in aviaries, I've only seen bald eagles one other time — in Juneau, Alaska, when my plane landed for a brief stop when I was on my way to Fairbanks.
If you need a passport but can't make it to the post office for whatever reason, the Howard County Library System has a new passport application service at the Glenwood Branch of the system in addition to the service at the East Columbia branch.
No appointment is necessary with hours on Monday through Thursday (3 to 7 p.m.) and on Saturday (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). They even have passport photos available, too. You can find out all the information that you need if you go to the library web site at http://www.hclibrary.org.