JERSEY: This week is prime eagle watching season

By Editor | January 17, 2024 |

By Cory Davenport

While this week’s frigid temperatures may have been awful for humans, they are just what the region needed to draw majestic bald eagles from regions farther north.

Tera Hohman, Conservation Science Manager at the Audobon Center in West Alton, said cold weather brings bald eagles southbound for open water. Previous to this week, temperatures both here and in northern states, such as Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, were too warm for the Mississippi River to freeze enough to drive the eagles south in their search for unfrozen waterways to hunt for both fish and waterfowl.

She added bald eagles do not often migrate long distances, instead preferring short stints from their home territories. This time of year is also courting and mating season for bald eagles. Hohman said eagles would much rather conduct this behavior in their home turfs, meaning they will migrate to the Alton, Grafton, and Calhoun areas only as long as they need before their usual territories thaw and allow for more hunting grounds.

Previous to this week, Scott Isringhausen of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) said eagle-watching ventures the IDNR has sponsored resulted in a mere 25 eagles being sighted across the entire region. He said further ventures are slated for next month. On Feb. 1, 2, 6, 8, 15, 21, 22, 23, and 26 as well as March 8, folks are invited to reserve their slots for a free eagle-watching venture. Reservations can be made by calling Pere Marquette State Park at (618) 786-3323 ext. 1.

These ventures, Isringhausen said, will start with a video and presentation of bald eagle artifacts at the Pere Marquette State Park Visitors Center. Following that presentation, Isringhausen said folks are invited to take their own vehicles for an IDNR guided tour from Pere Marquette to Two Rivers and across the Brussels Ferry for a trip around Calhoun County, finishing at the Winfield Dam, where Isringhausen said he sighted seven bald eagles at once last week. There will be a break for lunch in Hardin, but lunch will not be provided for participants. Outside of lunch money, Isringhausen said folks should dress for being in the weather for 10 minute spurts and bring their own binoculars.

Bald eagles are not the only birds seen during winter migrations in the area. Hohman said the Mississippi River is a great conduit for migrations. To the east and west are mountain ranges and there are deserts further west. The river also provides ample food sources in the floodplains as well as the unaltered forests, bluffs, and agricultural landscape surrounding it.

Hohman said bird-watchers may also enjoy several species of waterfowl (as will bald eagles who prey on them) during the winter season. Diving ducks such as canvasbacks, northern pintails, goldeneyes, and even skoders from the tundra of the subarctic can be seen in the area during their trips southward. Hohman also said scaups – both lesser and greater – are rarely seen, but on a regular basis, during this winter season. Even incredibly rare snowy owls have been spotted by birders in West Alton while the weather outside dips into frightful territory.

Hohman also said the eagle season around this area starts dwindling around late February due to fluctuating weather and temperatures. Both Isringhausen and Hohman agreed the prime eagle-viewing around the St. Louis Metro Area this year had a late start due to warmer temperatures in the region as well as north of it.

Once the eagle-viewing prime has passed, both Hohman and Isringhausen also mentioned many eagles stay in the area year-round. Those who do their courtship and mating in this area often breed families here in large nests. More nests have been spotted around both Pere Marquette State Park and the Audobon Bird Center in West Alton. Hohman said this is a great sign bald eagles are thriving, despite once being considered a threatened species.

If this area gets too cold and the river freezes, many eagles who call this place home may even migrate slightly south, only to return when the weather warms. Bald eagles can be found in every state in the Union outside of Hawaii. They can also be found in Canada and Mexico. Hohman said they are more rare in the Southwest, because of their reliance on large bodies of water for food.