Watching the majestic eagle
I sat stunned in a staff meeting a couple of years ago when Editor Scott Angus said he couldn’t recall ever seeing a bald eagle in the wild. It reminded me how different our lives and interests are. I’ve seen dozens if not hundreds of eagles.
I’ve fished in Ontario perhaps 25 years and on about a dozen different lakes. Each time I go, I see eagles. One year, on Rainy Lake, we watched a dozen or more soaring in a flock for some reason we couldn’t imagine.
An eagle’s nest is a couple of blocks from my parents’ home in Minocqua, and I usually walk the pup under it each morning when I’m visiting to see if I can spot the occupants—and often do. Another eagle’s nest is across and just downstream from our Wisconsin River property near Muscoda. Often, I’ll see these or other eagles soaring or sitting on a sandbar.
When the sun is shining on those white heads, bald eagles are easy to spot and identify.
My wife, Cheryl, and I once joined friends in boating under an eagle’s nest in the Chetek chain of lakes and watched as an eagle grabbed a fish out of the water. Heck, on my drive to Siren in northwestern Wisconsin for a Wisconsin Writers Association conference last spring, I spotted four eagles—two sitting in trees near the highway and two joining vultures dining on a deer carcass in a field adjacent to the road.
A story in today’s Gazette details upcoming eagle watching events in Prairie du Sac and Sauk City on the Wisconsin River, a new one in Kaukauna on the Fox River and two more in Cassville and Ferryville on the Mississippi River. Cheryl and I went to Prairie du Sac and Sauk City one recent winter to see the eagles, though if there were close-up viewing spots, we didn’t pursue them after arriving late in the day.
Sometimes you don’t have to venture far from home. Residents in the Janesville area have spotted and photographed an eagle wintering around here in recent years. If anyone has seen that eagle again this winter, I haven’t heard.
Below are two photos I snapped in the last few years while fishing out of Pickerel Arm Camp on Minnitaki Lake near Sioux Lookout in Ontario. Janesville’s Lee and Julie Edwardson own and operate the camp, and my friends and I are planning another trip there this July.
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or gpeck@gazettextra.com. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook
Jan 9, 2013 at 8:40 p.m.
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I live near u-rock and the water treatment facility. Just last week (on two occasions) saw an immature bald eagle flying overhead. Not sure if it was the same one or not. I'm always amazed when I see one. They're so beautiful. I used to be from the La Crosse area, and I'd frequently see them near the river or flying.
Jan 9, 2013 at 5:35 p.m.
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Greg, During the winter months eagles can be regularly seen along the rock river flying in downtown Janesville. Thanksgiving day of 2012, there was a pair flying above the courthouse. There is a nesting pair not far from the Janesville Water Treatment facility. The workers routinely see them throughout the year. There are several eagles around Lake Koshkonong, especially above the Highway 59 bridge in Newville. Each spring there are numerous eagles which visit Lake Koshkonong when the ice conditions get bad from warm weather. They feed on fish which have died and were trapped by the ice. They also hunt the migrating birds heading north that land on the ice edge on the south end of the lake. Last year there were about 30 whopping cranes on the ice and were being harassed by the eagles looking for a weak bird. Today, I saw one flying above the former "Owl's Nest" at the intersection of 26 and Cty N. You don't have to drive to Prairie du Sac or Minocqua to see eagles. They are in our back yard!
Jan 9, 2013 at 3 p.m.
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I saw one buzzing the Montery bridge Sunday morning about 930. Did a couple flybys and then headed down river.
Jan 9, 2013 at 12:43 p.m.
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I saw one eagle in the area by the ice arena this past Monday around 1pm.
I saw one sitting on a post by the Bellrichard bridge in 2010. I was told by people living in the bridge area that they were seeing two in the area that winter flying on the Rock river between the bridge and Cedar Crest health center.
Jan 9, 2013 at 2:07 a.m.
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See them behind Dawson Field also.
Jan 8, 2013 at 7:13 p.m.
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Saw a bald eagle last Friday afternoon sitting atop a tree over looking the Rock River just south of UW-Rock County. I also have seen them flying over downtown Janesville from time to time. There is at least one nest within city limits, as well.
Jan 8, 2013 at 6:07 p.m.
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I saw them last year near Monterey Dam, and also near the ski area at Traxler. Haven't seen them yet this year, but I did photograph some Mute Swans on Sunday in the Rock River along S. River Road, near Heiders farm.
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