Although I have seen thousands of Bald Eagles during my career as a hawk counter, I still remember my very first Bald Eagle sighting. I was a young teenager keenly interested in birds, and my brother and I were on a canoe trip in northern Minnesota. We had just portaged around some rapids on a gray morning, when this Bald Eagle took off from a tree bordering the small pool below the rapids, its white tail gleaming against the dark surroundings.