Bald Eagles starting to gather along Mississippi River

[Mike Nolan]

The Chicago Tribune has their nearly annual story about bald eagles today.

As winter set in in the upper midwest, the bald eagles are moving south, especially to the locks and dams on the Mississippi River between Dubuque and Quincy, which one Army Corps of Engineers spokesman has described as being fish buffets. Other places with lots of sightings are along the Illinois River, especially near Starved Rock State Park, but the Fox, Rock and DuPage rivers are also good viewing places.

Here in Nebraska I've seen dozens of bald eagles along the Big Blue river near Fairbury, but I suspect the Platte has them as well, and probably the Missouri, too.

In 1963 there were 417 known nesting pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. The population is now estimated to be over 316,700.

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[Joan Simpson]

I follow a Decorah Eagle page and love all the videos and information all about the eagles.Amazing to me and I've watched documentaries on them on TV and all along the Mississippi,love it.

[BakerAunt]

We have seen an unusually large number of eagles this January, including some who were fighting over what we think was a fish. A very large eagle was particularly aggressive. The eagles like the lake, which is mostly frozen (and yes, the ice fishermen are out in spots), but there is still some open water that has attracted various kinds of ducks, as well as coots, geese, and swans. It is not a pretty sight when an eagle gets a bird.

[Mike Nolan]

There's some pretty graphic footage out there of eagles and other raptors attacking prairie dog and marmot colonies.

Ben Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national bird.

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