At one point or another during the year, Barr Lake State Park is home to hundreds of species of birds: red shouldered blackbirds, pelicans, Canadian Geese and when spring rolls around, baby bald eagles and their parents.
The eagles can be viewed through binoculars or a telescope at a couple different spots in the park, but the fastest way to get to them is aboard the Eagle Express.
Jug Eastman is a volunteer naturalist at Barr Lake and he's one of three guides who take turns leading the Eagle Express tour on Saturday and Sunday mornings this time of year.
Basically a jumbo-sized golf cart, the Express can hold 13 people. On the way, Eastman shares the history of the state park and points out every animal he sees. Ducks, deer, herons and spawning carp can't escape his searching eyes.
But nothing holds Eastman's gaze longer than the three baby eagles sitting in their nest waiting for their parents to return.
"I kinda feel like I'm a part of it," Eastman said. "I'm sort of a grandfather to those chicks."
Like any grandfather, he loves showing off the grandkids.
Deborah Shumar was eager to meet them.
"I got binoculars for Christmas and that's why I started watching birds," Shumar said.
Shumar drove from Hygiene to spend the day outside with her daughter.
"You know, where do you see nests of eagles?" Shumar asked. "And I didn't know they wouldn't have a little white head, like mine."
Eastman says those baby eagles won't get their iconic white head feathers until they're four or five years old. He also said they'll be a few pounds heavier than their parents when they eventually fledge and fly off on their own.
For a guy who knows so much about birds, he was a complete novice when started volunteering at Barr Lake.
"I was 24 years in the military and didn't do too much with birds except big silver and aluminum ones," he said.
Now Eastman's got a passion for real-life birds, and a knack for knowing exactly where to look when he needs to find them.
