Amtrak Safari

This past week, I rode Amtrak's Acela Express round-trip from New York to Boston. I really like this trip for the stint along the Connecticut coast, which runs south of I-95 right along the shore. This affords a great look at the marshes and marinas along the way (albeit an often quick look since the Acela can max out at 150 mph). And there is no shortage of the birds featured in my previous post, with numerous osprey platforms and their resident ospreys themselves lining the route.

But my return journey yesterday featured two unexpected bird sightings: The first was a large male wild turkey (a colorful "gobbler") wandering across a salt meadow. And the second was a bald eagle soaring across one of the small coves toward a perch in an old dead tree. At first, I thought I was watching another osprey. But as we drew closer, the size and coloration of the bird were unmistakable. As we raced by, I sank back into my seat with a contented smile while quietly whistling "Freedom Isn't Free" from the Team America: World Police soundtrack...