Date: 04/23/2014

Number: 1

I was hiking along the upper Patapsco river in the Daniels area of Patapsco Valley State Park about a 1/4 mile below the Bloede Dam. It was around 6:00 pm.

I saw a shadow moving along the ground in front of me and looked up to see what it was.

About 30-40 feet directly above me was a beautiful bald eagle soaring against a blue sky. I have no idea if it was male or female but it was a pretty awesome sight to behold.

It circled a few times and moved to the southeast, gradually moving as it continued to make wide circles. I assume it was looking for it's next meal.

The Maryland DNR stocked the Patapsco with around 2,600 farm raised rainbow trout and brown trout a few weeks ago and I imagine that these fish, in these numbers are pretty easy pickin's for any bird of prey. I hope so because I hope to spot this bird again.

These birds are not common in this area. In fact, this most recent sighting was only the second one of my life and I'm 52 years old.

The first sighting was just about a year ago along the same river but upstream about 4 miles near Woodstock MD. That bird was flying straight down the valley and I watched it until it went out of sight.

Unfortunately I was unable to get a picture of either of these beautiful birds but I'll try and remember to keep a camera on me when I'm out in the woods (which is a very frequent occurrence).

Ironically, about 20 minutes before the eagle sighting, I also spotted a wild turkey. This bird too is an uncommon sight in these parts. I have seen maybe 4 of them in my entire life.

Overall, this was a good day and the sightings were awesome. I have to give the top prize to the Bald eagle simply because of it's beauty, but the wild turkey was pretty cool too.

I'm very happy that these animals are coming back and I hope that their numbers continue to increase as time goes on.

RJ. Garrett,
Granite, MD

Daniels, MD

Latitude: 39.3 Longitude: -76.8

Observed by: RJ
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