CHANNEL ISLAND FAVES: There are a lot of webcams that keep on truckin' around the internet -- who doesn't want to look in on their hometown's main street once and awhile and see what the action is? -- but seem to garner to devotion that the Channel Island Bald Eagle Web Cams do. The fans who follow every chick movement and every squawk and every meal are devoted, for sure. And when the cameras are down? Well, just hop on over to the Bald Eagle Archives, which offer some stunning snapshots. But most every fan, while they are content to admire the eagles and eaglets from afar, would love to see the iconic bird in person. And they can, on Saturday, May 19, at the Bald Eagle Festival in Ventura.
A COUPLE OF THINGS TO KNOW: This isn't a big, booth-laden festival with lots of food purveyors. Let's instead call it intimate and eagle-focused, which sounds good by us. Also? You don't need to go out to the channel islands; just get to 1901 Spinnaker Drive. A Chumash storyteller and some kid activities are part of the day, as are two films. But the in-person -- or in-bird, rather -- bald eagle will make his cameo at 1 p.m. Awww, and his name is Hitch. It's a free event, too. We recently saw our first bald eagle up close and it was quite the moving experience; he was also much larger and more powerful-looking than we expected (and we expected a lot on both fronts). If you can't make the fest, just keep checking those webcams; they're one of the many gifts of the NPS site.
