My second NJOWL trip was a much-anticipated eagle watch up to the Upper Delaware River Valley, where the largest population of bald eagles winters in the Northeast. Although when the alarm went off at 4am on Sunday, I wondered what I'd gotten myself into! Driving early in the dark, frigid morning, a group of us met in Chester and then proceeded to a turnoff near Stokes State Forest to connect with Mike Bisignano and James Paolino, and the rest of the women. A treat before we got going was an impromptu snack at the local Cider Restaurant. In addition to Mike and James, the group included Cathy, Gloria, Diane, Ginger, Judy, Lynn, Carole, Charlene, Ginny and myself.

As much as I enjoy hiking, I was relieved to learn we would spend much of the day driving and staying in the caravan to sight eagles. It turns out – much like bats in hibernation – eagles are disturbed by humans standing close by and may fly off using their much-needed energy for the winter season.

At a chilly -2 degrees F we set off trailing Mike and James up Route - 209 towards the Delaware River. We met success at the Milford Beach rest stop almost immediately! What a thrill to see my first - up close - adult eagle perched across the Delaware River! We moved back a bit, having disturbed an eagle, which flew off. Mike and James set up their scopes so we could all get a good view. A few of us got refresher lessons in using our binoculars and Mike loaned me a pair that would actually refocus in the cold! We saw at least three eagles here, perched nobly in the cold, blending in with the barren trees, only their white heads making them visible.

I was pleased and excited already - but this was just the start to a great and record-breaking day! We drove on to the Rio Reservoir, where we began the caravan saga of stopping, peering through the trees, trying not to ram the back of the preceding vehicle and rushing to get cameras out or to sight the next eagle.day.

From Rio, where I think a couple of eagles were sighted - mostly by Mike and James - we went on to stop at the Mongaup Falls Reservoir observation blind. With such frigid temperatures, the lake was mostly frozen but the scopes gave us good views of another three eagles. Here we learned the characteristics of eagles at different ages. The first year eagle - juvenile - is mostly a streaked brown color and blends into the trees making it very difficult for a beginner to spot. The second year eagle – or white-belly 1 - begins to have white on the belly (duh!). The third year eagle - white belly 2 - still has some white on the belly, and begins to have white mixed with brown on the head. The transition phase eagle has more white on the head, and the adult eagle has a fully white head and tail.

An adult bald eagle in flight.

As we left Mongaup, everyone (except me!) saw a huge raven on the side of the road. By the time we reached the Eagle Institute at Lackawaxen – around 11:30 - we'd sighted about 18 eagles. We were all feeling pretty pleased with our sightings. At the Eagle Institute we stopped in to get some eagle information, purchase a few doo-dads (eagle masks, key rings, etc.), and a quick pee break in the COLD portapotty. They've got a neat web site – check it out - www.eagleinstitute.org.

Lunch and hot drinks in our vehicles were welcome to all. The eagle action was pretty quiet here, so we got back in caravan and headed towards the Lackawaxen River and the Zane Grey house. Several groups were gathered here and we got more great sightings - a huge eagle nest, several adults, and then a close-up overhead flight of an adult eagle, which was just amazing!

What more can we ask for we all thought - perfect! But more was to come, following the Lackawaxen River to the west we saw more and more eagles. Eagles perched, flying up and down river, eagles diving and fishing. One after another until it was getting difficult to count the sightings!

At one point, Cathy sighted an immature eagle flying right next to the truck as we traveled along the road that hugged the Lackawaxen River. Seeing the eagle flying next to us, Cathy threw her camcorder to me in the back seat, while asking me if I knew how to operate one. I said, sure, I have one at home and hurriedly tried to figure out how hers worked and then focus on the eagle while we drove! I wished I had a video of all of us - Cathy driving, me trying to work the camera and watch the eagle - but no video of the confusion, the excitement or the eagle! Nonetheless, it was really neat to drive right next to such a magnificent bird.