Winter Eagles 2022

 I normally make a yearly winter trip to the Mississippi River, usually to North Davenport, Iowa or to the Great River Trail along the Wisconsin side of the river in order to see the American Bald Eagles that come to hunt because of the open water in these areas.

This January, I went to Davenport again and was lucky enough to get some very nice pics of the many eagles there, but I also learned that eagles were also present at the Mequon-Thiensville dam. Naturally, I assumed they were there because our high taxes paid for the visit.

The following photos are a composite of eagle photos taken in Wisconsin and Iowa:

Eagles have the ability to size up its prey and immediately decide if it is too fat to eat. It chose the "no eat" option.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It settled for sushi.                                                                  

                                                                               

                             This is an immature bald eagle. It has about five years before it gets a white head and coloration of a mature eagle. In the meantime, because it's immature, it tries to steal prey from Mom and Dad, stays out past bedtime, and has been seen sneaking into an Eagles concert.

                                                     See what I mean about stealing?

                                          And the winner is....

                                Junior now has to steal from the crows.                                                     

 

 

              This was a lucky shot of a nesting pair of eagles. They are not always together, and often hunt on their own, so this pose was very much appreciated!

The next group of photos is a potpourri of eagle pics taken in the last few months:

  

A seagull was bullying this eagle, but only from a distance.

                        Note the color of the head and body of this juvenile eagle. There's some evidence of the white head beginning to appear.

      This photo was taken in Trempealeau, WI during last summer. Hard to believe this ugly  eaglet would grow up to be a beautiful, majestic bird. 

This is the head of the catfish the two eagles fought over.

         This juvenile has not quite mastered the art of fishing.

 

 

 

Junior managed to get a small snack to take to his roost.

One thing I noticed this year was that there are a lot of immature eagles around, and that means that the eagles are flourishing and a large crop of mature eagles will be here in the next few years.