OMG!! BALDIES!!

I went for another drive yesterday...a long one that included a 'new' dirt road that runs N/S just outside of the W side of Custer State Park...when I came out and was about to merge with Hwy. 87 at the NW corner of Wind Cave Nat'l Park, I saw a bird of prey flying. I was literally gasping, "Oh my God," when I realized it was a bald eagle! Baldies visit the Black Hills in winter, but I had yet to see any in the past five years here. Not that the weather is normally so mild this time of year that I could be out tooling around. It was a very exciting moment as I watched it soaring by.

Later on, having driven in a very large loop...I took a dirt road that runs up through the E side of Wind Cave Nat'l Park, which I'd used before...but at the fork in the road I went left instead of right. I realized after a bit that I'd made a wrong turn. That wrong turn was the best thing! I came upon a large, dead tree with two large brown birds in it...turned out it was TWO bald eagles! OMG! OMG!

The eagles were probably 150 yards away...I crept closer, took photos, crept closer...still a good 100 yards at the closest. There was the large wire fence that runs on the two Parks' joining borders between me and the tree. Eventually the eagle higher in the tree flew off, and I left...dazed and amazed. The two sightings were only 2-3 miles apart.

There's a lot more to my little adventure yesterday...more posts to come.