National Eagle Center – Wabasha, Minnesota
September 6, 2011
Article in: Outdoors and Travel
On a trip to Winona, Minnesota to visit Stacia’s sister, we headed up to Wabasha to visit the National Eagle Center. I had fairly high expectations of the place and those were exceeded wonderfully!
Bald Eagle in your face!
We were greeted immediately by a friendly woman when we entered and throughout our visit everyone we came across was eager to answer our questions or talk freely about the place and its star attractions: eagles.
Bald Eagles are attracted to the Wabasha area year round and especially in winter because the river never freezes there. We saw a pair of adult eagles in a tree across the river.
The National Eagle Center has both Bald Eagles and a Golden Eagle, all of which have been injured and will never be able to return to the wild. They are treated well and provide a perfect way to connect people with nature in educational learning (that never feels like “learning”).
Bald Eagle
Golden Eagle
After checking out four of the five eagles they had at the center (the fifth was traveling) we watched an entertaining presentation all about eagles. We even were able to watch a Bald Eagle eat a delectable meal of rabbit!
The presentation was filled with facts about eagles and involved participation of some young audience members and the woman presenting fielded a ton of questions as well. She did a superb job and we highly recommend visitors partake in the showing.
The entire center is filled with displays and interactive exhibits and you can easily spend several hours there. There is also a nice gift shop with of course plenty of eagle paraphernalia.
Me and Stacia had to get our photo taken with one of the Bald Eagles, the one who happens to be on the Minnesota specialty license plate!
Phriday Photo – Blinking Bald Eagle
March 13, 2009
Article in: Photography
Bald Eagle
This photo was taken on Wisconsin state highway 13 shortly before we had car trouble. Eagles are plentiful in the Northwoods!!
World Bird Sanctuary Live Raptor Show – Starved Rock State Park
January 28, 2009
Article in: Birding
This is the third time we’ve watched the World Bird Sanctuary’s live raptor show at the Illinois Audubon Society’s Bald Eagle Weekend, but this was by far the best for photography.
First up was probably our favorite raptor in the world, the Harris’s Hawk. This is Sheldon and he flew over the crowd’s heads, causing an eruption of “oohs” and “ahhs”.
Next up was Turk, the Turkey Vulture. Some people call these fine birds “ugly” and “gross”. They do a lot for the ecosystem by cleaning up dead animals. We think they are just plain cool.
(more…)
Illinois Audubon Society Bald Eagle Weekend 2009
January 27, 2009
Article in: Birding
This past Saturday we volunteered to work the booth for our local bird club, North Central Illinois Ornithological Society at the annual Illinois Audubon Society Bald Eagle Weekend. This is a recap of what went down. We’ll have some more detailed information in upcoming posts!
Our booth was centrally located in the large gathering room at the Starved Rock State Park lodge, strategically positioned near the entryway to the meeting room where the live birds of prey show was held. Every two hours, lines would form and crowds would gather. But it wasn’t our bird club that was drawing all the attention; it was Barbara Williams’ taxidermy booth that snagged nearly every passerby.
Eagles and Gulls on the Illinois River [with video!]
January 17, 2009
Article in: Birding
Today we participated in a Rockford Bird Club (NCIOS) sanctioned field trip to Starved Rock State Park (near LaSalle/Peru, Illinois) to search for odd gulls and Bald Eagles. Of course the wind was blowing hard, making for a fun battle against the cold to filter through the hordes of gulls.
But before the search could fully begin, we discovered that our Canon was missing a crucial piece of equipment necessary for digiscoping. No CF card. Yes, our camera was without our 8 GB memory card and no backup was in the camera bag.
Thus, our digiscoping was cut short, with our backup (Nikon point-and-shoot) quickly running out of battery power. The trip was still fun with plenty of gulls to view and an extraordinary amount of Bald Eagles. A Thayer’s Gull was the best find of the bunch, the majority of the gulls being Herrings.
This video clip shows a mini Eagle battle with a juv. taking control of a fishy snack and not willing to turn it over to the rest of the gang. [Near the end of the video, watch for the "Bald Eagle butt-waggle"]
The lock was iced over but still in full operation. One barge went through which provided a lot of excitement for the large crowd, including the gulls that were looking for fish fragments.
Skywatch Friday – Bald Eagle
January 9, 2009
Article in: Photography
Bald Eagle in Ogle County, Illinois
Happy Skywatch Friday!
31 Cool Bird Facts #16 – Bald Eagle
October 16, 2008
Article in: Birding
The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the United States national emblem, beautiful and majestic.
The Bald Eagle was seriously affected by the use of DDT. Luckily, scientists. were able to prove that DDT was seriously affecting these birds and others, and banned the use of such harmful pesticides completely by 1972. The birds amazingly began to recover and today the numbers growing.
But can we breathe a sigh of relief? Unfortunately, we still remain the Bald Eagle’s biggest threat. Recovery centers receive injured eagles that have been caught in traps, shot, hit by cars, or even poisoned. Bald Eagles will eat deer and other animals on roadsides, making them vulnerable to auto accidents.
In our area, though, we have seen Bald Eagle numbers continue to grow and we are hopeful that this bird will stay off the endangered list.
Bald Eagle at the World Bird Sanctuary
Side note: One of the concerns we are trying to find more information on is the use of current pesticides and fertilizers and their affects on roadside birds seen by farm fields, even common birds such as Red-winged Blackbirds. This is a fascinating and complicated area of study that we are always looking for new research on.
