Bald Eagle

The road near my farm was slippery and snow covered so I was driving slowly—keeping an eye out for traffic and planning what I would do if I might meet someone.  Up ahead, where there was a bare spot in the road. I spotted something big and white—a white jacket someone had lost?

When I came within a few feet of the “something big and white” it moved, and then it leaped into the air on giant wings.  Had there been someone with me I’m sure they would have seen my mouth drop open, for I had just spotted a bald eagle feasting on a road kill deer.  Its big white tail was spread, its white head looking my way with a “get along with you so I can get back to lunch.”

I recall so well those dreadful days in the late 1950s and 60s, when the bald eagle population as well as other raptor populations were in rapid decline.   And then, Rachel Carson’s memorable book, SILENT SPRING sprung the news that the culprit was DDT.

Laws were enacted—much to the dismay of some as DDT did a great job killing mosquitoes and flies.  There was a substantial group of deniers who wouldn't accept the science proving what DDT was doing to this wild bird population.

But science eventually won out and the bald eagle population has been on the increase ever since—to the point that I have seen them soaring over my pond on a warm summer day—and I can spot them cleaning up road kill on our country roads.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  What a marvelous thing to see a bald eagle in the wild—and up close.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

February 22, 11:00 a.m. Retired Federal Workers Meeting, Waunakee.

February 27, Noon, Mt. Morris Insurance Company annual meeting, Richford, Wi

March 2, 7:00 p.m. Minnesota Public TV, “Jerry Apps: A Farm Story.”

March 3, 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin Public TV, “Jerry Apps: A Farm Story.”

March 6- 27: Writing Retreat, Florida.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING “JERRY APPS: A FARM STORY” DVD

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.00 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.)

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