Bald Eagles

The Quad Cities Chamber should be paying me for promoting this beautiful part of the world.

The temperatures have been really cold -- it has been a brutal winter. But, even so -- this amazing thing happens here every January...

Bald Eagles come here to eat. And roost. And do whatever it is Eagles do in January...

And I'm not talking just a few birds...

There are dozens...scores....hundreds of Bald Eagles....

This didn't happen when I was a kid. But, ever since the Cordova nuclear power plant opened, about 30 years ago, they started dumping hot water into the Mississippi River to keep it from freezing over. So the open water in the dead of winter means easy pickings for the Eagles...

I took this picture myself -- on the road leading to Princeton, Iowa.

Apparently, they tell their friends, who tell their friends -- and before you know it -- we have HUNDREDS OF BALD EAGLES coming here to spend the winter.

The other day, John and I were driving along Hwy #67 (which runs right along the river). We went 10 miles and counted 46 Bald Eagles sitting in barren trees.

The next morning, John drove on that road at sunrise. The Eagles were still sleeping -- there were 19 of them in ONE tree. Driving the same 10 miles, he counted 120 Bald Eagles....

This picture was taken with my cellphone -- there were TEN eagles in that tree...

They are quite a sight....

I grabbed this picture off the internet -- but WE SEE IT ALL THE TIME.  I just don't have a decent camera...

There is a group of semi-professional photographers (that means they spent big money on fancy cameras) -- who gather in Davenport, Iowa, just below the Lock and Dam. They're all lined up, along the levy wall -- with their cameras and long lenses on tripods - then they use a giant slingshot to shoot dead fish into the water. That's how they get these amazing pictures of Bald Eagles swooping down to snatch the fish.