Peering through a spotting scope, 6-year-old Elizabeth Williams, Galena, Kan., viewed some bald eagles during the second annual Eagle Days event in Stella.
The event was free and open to the public.
This was not the first time Williams saw our nation’s bird.
“I saw it a long time ago, when I was a kid,” she said. “They are great and they are my favorite kind.”
Another spectator was Susan Wuch, Joplin.
“I saw several of them (bald eagles). It is exciting I think to see them out in the wild nature,” Wuch said. “I probably have seen them in the zoos.”
Wuch stated she has seen other bald eagles on Big Sugar Creek. Wuch describes herself as a bird lover.
“I like birds. I don’t do it as a hobby, but we have lots of birds in our backyard,” she said. “We feed the birds in our backyard. We have lots of cardinals. I enjoy watching them. In fact, we have had a Pileated woodpecker, ‘Woody Woodpecker,’ (the famous cartoon woodpecker character) is one. We have had that in our yard once in a while. Once every two or three years, he will fly through.”
As she walked away from the spotting scope and back to her car, Wuch said she would return for sure next year and even next week.
“I am thinking about coming back next weekend and bring my grandsons down,” she said. “They won’t have this (Eagle Days), but I will know where to bring them.”
Set up near the Stella Veterans Memorial was a tent with information from the Chert Glades Naturalists Chapter. The chapter was handing out information about the bald eagle.
“We want to get people out in the nature, get them out of the house and get them into nature and learn more about it,” said Karen Graver, co-president of Chert Glades.
Graver stated she was excited about seeing all ages of people out and about looking and studying about the bald eagles.
“I don’t have any kids, but I used to teach school and the enthusiasm that the kids bring, I think that it brings it to the parents as well,” she said.
Stella, Mo. —
