I have been enjoying the Roger’s Pond eagles over the past few days. I rediscovered them quite by accident on a random visit to Roger’s Pond looking for somewhere I could access the landscape under a fresh coat of snow. (See Friday’s Eagles in the Morning post.) I had seen one eagle at the pond about this time last year, and thought of it as one of those chance encounters. Since then, people who frequent the pond have told me they see them there regularly, and, as is the way with expert birders, I sort of discounted their reports…it is easy to make a once or twice a year encounter with something as spectacular as an eagle into “regular,” since each encounter is so memorable.

Part of my reluctance to believe in the eagles comes from the fact that Roger’s Pond is surrounded on all sides by the village of Kennebunk. It is only maybe an eighth of a mile from Main Street and the US Rt 1 bridge over the Mousam River. There is only a thin band of trees and a steep bank between it and the houses on Brown Street, and even less cover between it and the light industrial buildings of Water Street. And the tiny park around the pond is busy all year long…with fishermen and dog-walkers, skaters and picnicers. It is a highly unlikely spot to see eagles.

It turns out, despite all that, that eagles are indeed regular at Roger’s Pond…and, quite possibly, nesting quite close. They have been there every day this week. There are two adults, and their interactions make it likely they are a pair. While digiscoping one of them yesterday I had a chance to show the eagle through the scope to a couple of pond regulars (we are talking about people now, not eagles)…always an experience…and one of them insisted he saw a young bird there frequently in the summer, with the adults. From his description it seems he certainly did.

Yesterday’s eagle was so cooperative that I was able to photograph it with three different cameras on the scope, and take a few good videos. It was certainly right at home at Roger’s Pond.

Digiscoped with the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL. 15-56x Vario eyepiece. Digidapter for ZEISS. Canon SD320HS. ISO 400 @ 1/400th. About 8500mm equivalent (!).

And for the Sunday Thought: Yes, I am so used to being the expert when it comes to birds, that it is easy for me to discount the testimony of non-experts…and that should embarrass me! What is more, I could have been enjoying the eagels of Roger’s Pond for more than a year now…maybe two…if I had only listened to what the pond regulars were telling me. I might have see them fledge a youngster. I was at Roger’s Pond at least once a week, often more, all summer, looking for dragonflies. Had I only believed in the eagles I might have looked up more often and seen them. It seems certain now that they were there.

And that makes a good parable for the spiritual life. What spiritual encounters do we miss because we do not believe in the possibility…because we think we know better than our fellows…because we do not look up where they are pointing? Perhaps it is better for our peace of mind not to know the answer to that question…but I, for one, intend to listen more carefully and with a more open mind…the take the testimony of the regulars…and to look up more often.

I know now that I might see eagles…and what other wonders I can only imagine.

Happy Sunday!