It’s going to be a good spring for wildlife and bird watching along the dike trail in Wyoming and Forty Fort. Maybe even better than last spring when I identified several different species of ducks, red tail and sharp-shinned hawks, kestrels, three spices of herons, a family of ruffed grouse, killdeer, the lesser yellowlegs, gold finches, red-winged black birds, turkeys, snow geese, and of course, tons of Canadian geese and other common species.

I also saw deer, fox, and woodchucks and turtles, snakes and weasels of indeterminate species. I think it’s going to be a good year because on Monday, February 16, Presidents Day, I saw two bald eagles sunning in a tree right at the Abrams Creek inlet. Ah, what a thrill. I felt like Chris Matthews when he heard Obama speak – I got a tingle down my leg.

This was my fourth eagle sighting around the Susquehanna near Wyoming over the past couple years, the first two were fleeting. I saw one fly over while driving across the Eighth Street Bridge. That sighting blew me away. It was the first time I’d seen an eagle in Pennsylvania, let alone so close to home. My wife and I used to drive 200 miles to see them at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refugee in Maryland.

The second time a spotted an eagle I was walking along the dike trail and saw one fly into the island and disappear.

My third sighting was last summer in the river north of the Eighth Street Bridge. I was driving along River Road in Port Griffith, glanced at the river and saw something white. I pulled over and there was an eagle on a little sand bar. The river was low.

I drove back home, got my binoculars and went back to the site and he was still there. I watched him for a while though at a good distance.

The Presidents’ Day pair of eagles was enjoying the sun. I was walking my dog when I spotted them and my Murphy’s Law of binoculars proved true. The law states that if I take my binoculars to the dike, I will have no use for them and if I don’t take them, well, eagles sun themselves in trees just 75 feet away.

I took a chance that the eagles were in for a long rest, went back to the parking lot, took my dog home, grabbed my binoculars and camera and went back to the dike. Took about 10-15 minutes. This time Murphy’s Law failed. They were still there, waiting for me, I suppose. I watched them through the binoculars for a few minutes, then took some pictures with my wife’s little digital camera. They posed for several minutes then flew off one at a time a minute or two apart.

About the Author

Jack Smiles covers for the Times Leader. Reach him at or jsmiles@psdispatch.com.

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