While many of you clowns spent the day discussing hills, I spent mine actually riding one, and was rewarded with a sighting of a bald eagle. On 9W, on the hill a mile or 2 south of the Bear Mt. entrance, a bald eagle was perched atop a small tree, close to the road. It was really close to me and since I was crawling uphill I had plenty of time to look at it. It was upset about something--I hoped not me--doing that crow thing with the wings slightly spread and the neck stretched out, making some high-pitched noises. A while later on my way back I saw a couple of hard-core bird-watching johnnies parked at the entrance to Iona Island and asked them if I had really seen a bald eagle. They said the area around this stretch of the river was important to eagles, especially in January and February.