I Had a Moment...again, and then again

 

I Had a Moment...again, and then again

by Craig Willms

I can't believe what I saw today. We had a very slight rainstorm, there was hardly enough rain to even wet the road we were driving on. My wife said - oh, look at the rainbow! Sure enough there was a section of an arc of a rainbow in the distance. We were driving toward it, and I was looking at it intently because something seemed a bit off about this rainbow. This rainbow was too wide. Suddenly it struck me it was two rainbows. It was not a double rainbow, which we've all seen, it was stacked rainbow.

In other words, there was one rainbow stacked on another. The original rainbow was brighter and more pronounced, the second, fainter rainbow was immediately below the first. I could detect even a third rainbow which was so faint as to seem like trick of the eye. I had never seen anything like it before. 

Of course, I looked it up on the Internet and lo and behold there it was. These rainbows are quite rare, as they require very specific conditions in order to form. It is called a supernumerary rainbow, also known as a stacker rainbow. The supernumerary bows are slightly detached from the main rainbow, become successively fainter along with their distance from it. The picture above is from the Internet as I was not in a position to take a snap of the one I was seeing, but that is what I saw. Amazing! 

I may never see a stacker rainbow again - I definitely had a moment. However, that's not the only amazing thing I saw this week...

I was standing on my driveway looking up at the clear blue sky where I spotted a bald eagle circling in long lazy arcs. Then I spotted another also circling directly below the first, wow, I thought, that's cool. I looked higher in the sky and saw another large-winged bird circling above the other two. This one was so high I could not make out a white tail or a white head. I assume it was also an eagle because I was then stunned to see another circling above the treetops. Taking it all in I was seeing four bald eagles circling one above the other in a column. I have never seen anything like it. I've seen plenty of vultures circling, but never perfectly stacked in a column like that.

When I was young it used to be a treat to see even one bald eagle. Thankfully they've made a remarkable come back and seeing multiple bald eagles is not a rare occurrence anymore. This was something strange and different. I don't know what behavior I was observing, but I assume it was a rare sight. 

A moment indeed.