Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Day Of The Eagles Revisited

As you may have noticed I've been in a little writing funk lately. This problem motivated me to do a little "historical research" back to the beginnings of this blog. It was just two years ago. This will be the 300th post by yours truly. Naturally, no one but my spouse read those first ones at the time. I've learned a lot since then but the basic idea remains the same. Try to tell an interesting story and throw in a few pictures in lieu of ten thousand words.
Yup... that's me before I became a "troutbirder." I didn't even know what a blog was at the time. My son clued me in as a way to learn about he and his wife's activites, when they traveled to Ethiopia to adopt a child. I remember thinking "I could do this!" Start a blog that is....

March 2 2008 - "I had decided to rev up my new birding hobby by persuading my friend Gary to join me at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha for the annual Golden Eagle Count. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it so we decided to branch out on our own the following Friday. We stopped by the Eagle Center to get some ideas on routes to take where we might see the Goldens. There were learned that sixty Goldens had been spotted in Minn. Iowa, and Wisc. the previous weekend. On to Wisconsin!!


Mr Science and I made a waystop near Reeds landing on the Mississippi where we spotted six Balds and a host of the usual waterfowl including common goldeneyes and Canada geese.








Then it was across the Wabasha Bridge and south towards Alma. We turned left and headed into the coulee country east of Alma.We spotted perhaps another half of a dozen Balds in the next couple of hours before we started thinking about lunch. "Where should we go," I asked somewhat naively. "Hey every town in Wisconsin has at least one bar," I was informed.

So there ahead in the distance appeared to be a small crossroads town.

As we approached the town's outskirts I noticed some buildings and a fence line stretching toward the east. "Huge flock of crows in the trees on that fence line up ahead," I noted.As we approached the "crows" seemed to be growing in size. Stopping, we got out and scanned with our binocs. They were definitely Balds and my partner began counting till he reached over one hundred. (CLICK ON THE PICTURE AND WATCH THE CROWS TURN INTO BALD EAGLES!)
It was then that I noticed what appeared to be a hog confinement building along the road ahead of us. Also, there were lots more eagles on the ground in the alfalfa field behind the buildings and adjacent to the fence.We decided to approach closer by pulling the car ahead about a hundred yards. Now we could see clearly behind the building. There were dozens of Balds on the ground, some in a literal pile where they were swarming and jumping in the air. This scene reminded me of one of those African documentaries where vultures are seen clambering on the dead carcass of an antelope.
Finally, we left, driving into town to find (sure enough) a bar and grill. We had lunch with a view, including watching eagles flying back and forth across the deserted main street. There were also perchin right out the window on top of a Catholic Church next door to the cafe. Upon asking our waitress if seeing so many eagles was a common sight, she informed us that they were "here all winter due to the chicken farm." What an amazing day!!!! And what fun to tell all about. I was hooked and have been blogging several times a week ever since.

15 comments:

  1. Cool on the crows turning into bald eagles! A conservation success story...Let's hope we only ever get more of those. :)

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  2. That WAS an amazing day. Especially since you saw such an amazingly huge number of eagles in one spot! :-) I'm glad you began your blog. Yours is one I enjoy visiting.

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  3. What a great day. Isn't it amazing what we see when we get out of the house? A great way to pick up ones spirits.

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  4. Here's to 300 more! Your adventures are always a great read, and the pictures are worth at least 2,000 words! :)

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  5. WOW, what a sight that must have been! I think we are all in a bit of a winter funk lately, if it's any consolation. I am just so weary of being COLD. Come on spring!!

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  6. And I'm so glad you are blogging, I've enjoyed reading your pages!

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  7. Good morning TB. I'm glad you decided to start a blog and keep it up.

    What were the eagles eating? I've never heard of them being attracted to an ag site like that. Very interesting. I wish I could get my local hawks to accept food. I remember one birding forum member showing a photo of his resident hawk accepting pizza slices from a platform feeder.

    Gotta love Wisconsin. They always get their priorities right:)
    Marnie

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  8. The eagles were eating some refuse tossed out behind the chicken operation. The wintered on the Mississippi about 10 miles away.... and showed up everyday for lunch!

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  9. There is a farmer down the road that deposits dead pig carcasses on his farmland in the winter for the wildlife to enjoy. There are always bald eagles nearby that area partaking of the meat. Such beautiful birds. :)

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  10. Next time you are looking for food in Alma try Big Tonys Bar. Nice guy and the place is a real greasy spoon. About one bazillion calories per serving of food but tasty.

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  11. Seeing all those eagles must've been thrilling! BY the way - love your blog header photo w/ your handsome boy!

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  12. Kia ora TB
    Rave on my friend! Kia kaha.
    Cheers,
    Robb

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  13. That is one big bunch of Eagles..are they there every winter? What a great way to start your blog...and two years..you are doing great. I passed two years in December..it is a journey:)

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  14. I'm so glad you got hooked, TB. Your blog is a class act, and there's definitely no BS here, just evidence of a lot of hard work. It's brilliant too! (I'm counting up the percentage points as instructed in the post below).

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