TAHLEQUAH — Jim Harmon finds inspiration in viewing the southern bald eagle in flight.

The Indian Nations Audubon Society member of 32 years often shares his view with others, and sets up his telescope across the river from a nest on State Highway 80 several times per month. The 87-year-old never tires of the task.

“I do it for the kids,” said Harman. “All at once, their eyes open and you know they’ve seen what you want to show them.”

Just seeing the national bird is exciting to some, but catching them on camera is even more inspiring to others.

Gary McGee, of Muskogee, likes to capture all birds of prey, song birds and air shows with his camera and video, using a Sony with 30 to 35 zoo.

“You can’t get very close without them getting nervous, so I stay in the vehicle, and shut it off,” he said. “If you get out, they’ll take off.”

Chris and Kristy Taylor, drove from Oklahoma City, and came to celebrate their ninth anniversary.

“My husband is home on leave from Iraq, and we wanted to do something special,” she said. “I remembered coming here as a girl, and have memories of my parents bringing me to see the eagles.”

Chris is a Marine.

“His favorite bird is the eagle,” she said. “He’s pretty patriotic. The eagle is majestic. We were able to see our national bird in the wild.”

Mellisa Rock got up at 5:30 a.m. to drive her four kids from McAlester to see the eagles. Weekend trips are a regular family activity, even when dad is working.

“They want to bring their friends who don’t get to see all they do,” she said, holding one or the other of her four children or helping them keep their balance so as not to knock the telescope over the hill.

Rock visited the TravelOk site where she discovered the Eagle Watch at Fort Gibson Dam. They met at Three Forks Nature Center at Sequoyah State Park, where naturalist Lori Kerr led the group to the place near the dam Audubon member Jim Harman was set up.

“I love watching everybody’s faces,” Kerr said, “They just light up.”

With maps and markers, the Rock kids will highlight their trip on the way home.

“It seems really important they have an appreciation of nature,” Mellisa Rock said. “They learned stuff on the way here. We Googled ‘audubon’ and learned what that is.”

Jakob Rock, 11, said seeing the eagle in its nest was really amazing, it was eating something.

“He’s filleting fish,” Harman said. “See how he holds it and pulls strips?”

Susan Scantlin, of Tahlequah, saw the information in their Lake Region newsletter and called the nature center to make plans.

“It’s pretty cool. We live near the Illinois River, so we see them sometimes,” Scantlin said.

Her husband, Tony Scantlin, knew there were years when we had no eagle nests in Oklahoma.

“They’ve made a comeback, there’s about 100 nests now,” he said. “They’re really something to see.”

Harmon, who retired from national wildlife refuge management after working from 1950 to 1980, watches the eagles so often he knows their routine.

“She left the nest at 9:23 a.m., and he got on the nest at 9:30,” Harman said. “He gives her time off in the morning and afternoon. That’s when she catches fish. She’ll get away from the river, under the canopy, to eat where the crows and other eagles won’t see her.”

It was in 1985 to 1991 eagles were reintroduced into Oklahoma, Harman said. Before that, the last eagle nest in Oklahoma was in 1927 on the Illinois River above Tahlequah.

“The experimental project brought eggs from Florida seven to 10 days after they were laid, to be incubated at the Sutton Research Center. They were fed with eagle puppets so the babies wouldn’t imprint with humans,” he said.

Today, there are 80 to 100 nests in Oklahoma, Harman said.

“At age 4 or 5, the female picks a life mate. They’ll live up to 30 in the wild and 50 in captivity,” he said. “A female will remate if something happens to the male.”

The nearest nest to the one being observed Saturday is 2 miles away.

“It’s probably a daughter,” Harman said. “They don’t like other eagles in their area. There are six nests within 10 miles of here.”

Eggs hatch in 34 days and the babies fly within 65-75 days.

“It’s fun to watch them develop pectoral muscles, flapping their wings, then a puff of wind blows them back in the nest,” he said. “Then another time they’ll be flapping and a puff of wind blows them out of the nest and they have to fly. They fly above the nest in a few circles and plop down, they don’t know how to land yet.”

Excited, Harman pointed out when the female came back into view.

“Here’s the show,” he said. “She’s making a beautiful circle on the thermal. He’d been on the nest 1-1/2 hours and was getting restless. He joined her flying in all his glory, it’s remarkable. She cut straight back to the nest.”

At 18,000 feet, they’ll glide until they find another thermal and ride it up, he said.

Avid bird enthusiasts Jim and Shelly Fox, from Edmond, came to Western Hills to celebrate their fourth anniversary.

“It takes patience to see the good stuff,” Jim said. “The eagles are beautiful. It’s a perfect day.”

The Indian Nations Audubon Society meets every other month at 7 p.m., on the third Thursday, at the Tahlequah Public Library.