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This mature bald eagle was photographed last month at a farm just outside Spencer. It was one of at least two recent eagle sightings in the area. Submitted Photo

“I did one of those double-take jobs,” Tom Hardman, a Roane County High School teacher and football coach who writes the Outdoors column for this paper, said.

Hardman saw his eagle on the morning of Feb. 18, a snow day for local schools. He was driving on Tuckers Run and saw the large bird no more than 20 yards from the road.

“There was a dead deer there, and perched on top of that deer was an eagle,” Hardman said. “I stopped the truck and snuck around to try to get a picture. I got one of his tail, but when I moved to get one of his whole body, he moved.”

A week earlier, Kevin and Lisa Taylor were traveling U.S. 33 to Ripley when they spotted an eagle on a farm about three miles from Spencer. They managed to snap at least two slightly blurry images of a mature eagle perched high in a tree as light snow was falling.

Sightings of our national symbol have been rare in Roane County. In fact, Jeff McCrady, wildlife biologist for the District VI Division of Natural Resources office in Parkersburg, said he had no reports of eagles in the county.

“But it certainly doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “We’ve had several from Jackson County. He may just be visiting.”

McCrady speculated that the two sightings may have been of the same bird because they were relatively close, especially as the eagle flies.

Bald eagles have become much more widespread in recent years, although West Virginia sightings are more likely along the Ohio River and in the mountains. The birds are no longer on any endangered or threatened lists – although several laws still offer them protection – and are used as an example of the success of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 that restricted the use of certain pesticides and protected habitat.

Patty Morrison, a biologist with the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge near Parkersburg, said eagle sightings are more common this time of year.

“They are a lot more active in the winter than in the summer,” she said. “They come south (from the northern U.S. and Canada) and are feeding and roosting. You get a lot of birds wandering.”

Morrison said nine eagles have recently been congregating in the Ohio River backwater along the Pleasants-Wood county line, “stealing” fish from blue herons.

Seeing eagles feeding on carrion is also common, she explained.

“I saw a deer in the ditch with two eagles sitting on top of it,” Morrison said. “They’re actually quite efficient scavengers.”

Both eagle sightings in Roane were of mature birds, each showing distinctive white feathers on the head. Morrison said that means the eagles were at least five years old and capable of reproduction.

McCrady said the DNR receives several reports of eagle nests every year, but that most turn out to be those of red-tailed hawks.

Each spring, DNR biologists monitor known nests and search for new ones in areas where pairs of adult birds are seen during nesting season.

“Within the next month, if they’re still around, it might be prudent to look for a nest,” Morrison said. “They’re quite large and relatively easy to find, usually, but not always, in view of water.”

Hardman, who spends a good amount of his spare time in the local woods, said he had once seen a bald eagle in Randolph County, but never expected a sighting this close to home.

The Roane eagle, which he estimated as up to 3 feet tall, left quite an impression on the veteran outdoorsman.

“You don’t see something like that every day,” Hardman said. “You think, ‘is this really possible?’ and it is.”