Bald Eagles

At the beginning of March the four of us went Eagle Spotting. About 45 minutes north of here is Alton and Grafton, IL, right along the Mississippi River. Bald Eagles migrate here every year when their rivers further north freeze and the eagles can no longer fish in them. They winter down here and then go back home in early March. We made it up there on one of the last weekends the eagles would be sticking around. The kids and Husband #1 were mostly ambivalent about going but I forced the issue so ff we went. We were all so glad we did! It was a nice day together. I have never seen Bald Eagles in the wild and we were pretty close. We even saw a HUGE next. The branches they use for their nests are so much more than twigs, more like tree limbs. We took two small ferries to cross the river and the kids were super excited to drive the truck onto a boat! We saw many eagles but were not always in a spot were we could stop to take their photo. We saw mature eagles and eaglets. Eaglets are full size "teenager" eagles that have not yet gotten their white head feathers.

BALD EAGLE

EAGLE NEST



EAGLET

Excited to be on a ferry