Last weekend, as we were birding around Leverett Pond, we noticed a lot of commotion among the birds. Gulls took to the air and Canada geese and mallards walked off the ice into open water, huddling together. Soon afterward, we spotted a large dark bird flying overhead, our first bald eagle sighting in Boston.
Today, we noticed something similar on our walk around Jamaica Pond. This time, we spotted the bald eagle first as it approached the Pond. Then, we noticed that all of the gulls on the Pond had taken off and were flying helter-skelter.
The eagle we spotted today appeared to be smaller than the one we saw last weekend. After flying for a while near the boathouse, the eagle once again crossed the Pond and alighted on a large sycamore/plane tree, where we had great views of it for fifteen minutes.
Judging from eBird reports, bald eagles are only seen on the Pond in winter.
How lucky and blessed are we to see our national bird so close to home!