With the return of spring weather, Center Grove area resident Jason Strait was pleased by the sight of a pair of bald eagles perched in a tree outside his window.
“I’ve never seen bald eagles that close,” Strait said. “They’re always so high that I couldn’t get a good picture. Saturday I saw a huge bird in the trees and said ‘holy crap, a bald eagle!’ I grabbed my camera, headed outside and took photos for about an hour.”
Strait moved to the Copperleaf neighborhood about five years ago, and since then has taken interest in the wide variety of birds in the area, including pileated woodpeckers, red belly woodpeckers, eastern bluebirds, red finches and red tail hawks. The bald eagle, however, impresses him the most, he said.
“They’re a predator bird,” Strait said. “It’s fascinating, the size of them. They’re very majestic looking. They represent the nation.”
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The two birds he saw were an adult and a juvenile, probably younger than three years old. He knows this because of the color of their head feathers. Bald eagles don’t have the brilliant white feathers they are known for until they reach adulthood, he said.
Strait doesn’t call himself an avid birdwatcher, but once he moved to White River Township and saw the plethora of birds circling the sky, he went to Brown County and picked up a guide to research and identify them with his children. He also got bird feeders to attract birds to the area outside his house, he said.
Bald eagles have been appearing more frequently in the area, he said. Last year he saw them once or twice, but this spring alone he’s seen them three or four times. He uploaded the photos online, and people have commented not only on his photography, but on how beautiful the birds are. While he has seen the birds more frequently this spring, they are still rare, he said.
Bald eagles were listed as an endangered species in the 1970s, but since have been increasing in population and were removed from the list of threatened and endangered species in 2007, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
While Strait currently works full time as an engineer, he would like to spend more time bird-watching in his retirement, he said.
