On Saturday afternoon, I delivered a painting of a polar bear to a customer & was driving back home. As I slowed for a red light, I saw a bird flying overhead, some sort of large raptor. I squinted to see what color it was, dark body with a white head-and realized it was a bald eagle. As the U.S. emblem, eagles appear everywhere to symbolize patriotism, so it took a few minutes to process that I was seeing the actual bird and not a propaganda picture. I've never seen a wild bald eagle and to watch one flying over a suburban street was absolutely thrilling. I bounced up & down in my seat exclaiming "Wow! wow!" repeatedly. It was a happy moment in my personal bird watching history.
   I've since found out that there is a nesting site a few miles away, not far from the shores of Lake Erie. It's kept a bit of a secret, because bald eagles are an endangered species. I'm happy that the birds are living close to Cleveland, maybe I'll see one again in the future. But if I don't, it was still a lovely memory to see one flying past on a sunny autumn day.