By Clyde Wilson

I had not seen an eagle on my birding ventures until I went out with Jeff Blalock, and he had not been birding by kayak until he went out with me on Lake Gaston.

Jeff has been birding for 30 years at least, and I was just starting out. We were watching the Ospreys catch fish back in June when I heard Jeff shout, “There’s an eagle!”

My response, “Where?”Jeff, “There, above the

tree line in front of you.”The bird was too far away

for me to see any detail, so I took several pictures of him as he flew out of view. When I enlarged the pic-tures I could see the white head and tail of the eagle. That was my first adult eagle pic.

Jeff knew what to look for. He can spot one a mile off. I too have learned what to look for when birding for eagles.

There is hardly a time I go out now that I don’t see an eagle or several. I still go birding with Jeff, but he prefers to watch them from dry land.

Just this past Monday I took off for Tailrace Park to take some eagle pictures. I wanted to practice my new found photography knowl-edge I had gleaned from Robert Harris of Robert Harris Photography the pre-vious week.

Within seconds of getting out of my car, I spotted five eagles, two adults and three immatures.

I had taken at least 100 pictures, but they were too far away to get a great shot. I hid myself sort of out of plain view also to practice my stealth hunting while I was shooting them. They were flying from one side of the river to the other and catching fish left and right, but I noticed one had changed directions and was flying toward me, so I zeroed in on him.

As I was continued watch-ing through my lenses and shooting at the same time I noticed he was getting clos-er and closer. He continued to move toward me until he was about 10 yards out

and spotted me and made a sharp turn to the right headed into the parking lot. By now I was pumped and really excited when I looked at the pictures.

The battery in my camera had died as I took the last picture. I walked back to the car to get another battery, and on my way I ran into two ladies getting out of their cars. They were from out of town on their way to the mountains and spotted the information sign on 58 and decided to check out the park. They asked me, “Have you seen anything yet?”

“Yes,” I replied, “there are five eagles out over the breaking water fishing as we speak.”

I encouraged them to move with me out of sight. They were photog-raphers also, and each had their cameras in hand. It was exciting to listen to the two of them talk back and forth with great enthu-siasm. They were thrilled, to say the least, and I was happy to share a part of “Mecklenburg is Heaven” with them.

They took their fill of pic-tures and headed west. I have a feeling the next time they pass Route 4 on their travels they will again take a few minutes to check out this beautiful part of our county.

A friend of mine from South Hill wanted to see eagles. So we left my shop and within two minutes she spotted two flying over an open field just past Pizza Hut in Bracey.

Donna of West Point wanted to see some eagles, so I took her birding at Staunton View, where she spotted two adult eagles fly in and land on the bank across the river from where we were standing (see pic). We saw a total of seven eagles that day. Now she calls me to tell me that she sees one all the time flying around town in West Point.

Sara of Bracey also want-ed to see some eagles from the kayak. It was very foggy that morning, but as we pad-dled 30 minutes from shore there was her eagle sitting on the branch of a dead tree just waiting for her.

There is one waiting for

you. We go on an eagle and rare bird hunt every Friday, weather permitting. Check out the tour info on the website www.backyardbird-scoffee.com or email me at joinclyde@gmail.com.

Before we leave the eagles I thought it would be interesting to give you a few facts gleaned from the internet.

The scientific name of the Bald Eagle is Haliaeetus leucocephalus, which means white headed sea eagle.

Wingspan: 5.9-7.5 ft.Lifespan: 20-28 years (in

wild)Mass: 6.6-14 lbs.Speed: 35-43 mph (glid-

ing)Although unique to North

America, the bald eagle’s closest relatives live in other parts of the world. These include the African fish-eagle (Haliaeetus voci-fer) of sub-Saharan Africa and the white-tailed sea-eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) of Eurasia.

Bald eagles lay two, occa-sionally three, eggs that are incubated by both parents, in turns for 34 to 36 days. Often only one chick sur-vives, but if food is plentiful they may rear two or occa-sionally three. Young birds fledge after 12 weeks and remain with the parents for another month.

When the bald eagle was adopted as our nation-al symbol in 1782, there were between 25,000 and 75,000 birds nesting in the lower 48 states. Illegal shooting, habitat destruc-tion, lead poisoning and the catastrophic effects of DDT contamination in their prey base reduced eagle numbers to a mere 417 pairs by 1963. Legal protection began with the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and contin-ued with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 and the 1978 list-ing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The single-most important regu-lation affecting bald eagle recovery may have been the banning of DDT for most uses in the United States in 1972.

In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downlisted bald eagles from endan-gered to threatened in most

of the United States.Though the recovery has

been spectacular, bald eagles remain threatened by illegal shooting and loss of habitat due to wetland drainage and human occupation of water-front areas.

Birding notes & quizzesYou can now view past

articles of Backyard Birds & Coffee online at www.backyardbirdscoffee.com, and to make it easier to locate previous info the arti-cles are now numbered for your convenience.

Kerr Lake Bird Club meets monthly. Next meet-ing Oct. 23. Social 6-7 p.m. Meeting 7-8 p.m. Topic “Birding by ear.” Like us on Facebook, Kerr Lake Bird Club. Come join us, it’ll be a hoot!

Virginia Beach trip with VSO on Dec. 4-6. See vir-giniabirds.net for details. Should be an exciting trip

and a great getaway to do some early Christmas shop-ping.

Last week’s quiz: “What bird is this in flight?” Sorry to say there were no win-ners. The bird was an Easter Phoebe.

This week’s quiz is anoth-er: “What headless bird is this?” See pic.

Email your comments, questions, quiz answers and birding encounters to joinclyde@gmail.com.

Backyard Birds & Coffee in Bracey is now open, Monday-Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thanks to all who are taking time out visit and smell the coffee and say, “What bird is that?”

120 US West 158 By-PassHenderson, NC 27536 252-438-2717800-817-2479 SUPERIORCDJ.COMSUPERIORTIRESHOP.COM

������������������������������������������������������������������������

��������������������������������������WHERE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS OUR GOAL

FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED SINCE 1985

SuperiorExit 213

Exit213Directions: I-85 Exit 213 for Southside VA, Lake Country, and Northern

North Carolina

SUPERIOR���������������

Stock Number: f286

���������������������

������������������������� ����������������������Stock Number: F082

MSRP 22,995Superior Disc 1,000Rebate 2,500Military Rebate 500

YOUR PRICE

$18,925$209 for 75 Months*

YOUR PRICE

$21,880$249 for 75 Months*

MSRP 22,880Superior Disc 1,000

YOUR PRICE

$19,940$299 for 75 Months*

Total Savings $6,500YOUR PRICE

$28,725$329 for 75 Months*

MSRP 24,945Superior Disc 1,000Consumer Rebate 3,500Military Rebate 500

MSRP 34,725Superior Disc 3,000Customer Rebate 2.500Chrysler Capital Rebate 500Military Rebate 500

* All prices are plus 20% down 2.75 APR plus tax, tags, and all fees. Photos are for illustration purposes only. Colors may vary.

Stock Number: F288

Page 6 South Hill Enterprise, October 21, 2015BackyardBirds&CoffeeNo.24

White-headed sea eagle

Two adult Bald Eagles

Immature Bald Eagle

This weeks quiz: what headless bird is this?

FOP Golf Tournament winnersThe Fraternal Order of Police golf tournament was held last Tuesday at South Hill Country Club. The winning team was, from left to right, Jeff Kidd, Mickey Smith, Henry Hendricks and J.T. Palmore.

The tourna-ment benefits

the annual FOP lodge-spon-

sored Cops and Kids Christmas Shopping event.

The second place team was John

Legg, Jimmy Robinson, Danny Wilson and Benji

Evans (not pic-tured).

The third place team was Patrick Sasser, Zach Smith, Hunter Lundy and Christopher Pugh (not pictured).

The fourth place team was Andy

Bugg, Collin Wells, Mac Bugg

and Ken Daniel (not pictured).