Eagle eyes: Eastern Iowans flock to view national bird on Mississippi River

America's national bird is beloved here in Eastern Iowa, where thousands of the majestic raptors winter along the Mississippi River each year.

We drive hours to stand in the cold to watch the birds. We spend even more hours logged in to the Raptor Research Project's Decorah Eagle Cam watching for the first sign of an eaglet.

Our fascination - one my family of four shares - is perhaps because we know that there was a time when even the keenest eagle eye would have a hard time spotting the once-endangered icon of freedom.

Now, when the eagles are in town - so to speak - spotting one is just a matter of keeping one's eyes skyward.

There also are several organized eagle viewing opportunities this time of year.

Eagle-watching events take place nearly weekly in January in towns along the Mississippi, from Dubuque and Clinton to the north all the way down the watershed to Muscatine and Keokuk in the far south.

Many of these communities also host Bald Eagle Appreciation days.

Recently, the Buchanan and Linn County Conservation departments took a busload of bird lovers to view eagles along the Mississippi River and attend one such event in Prairie du Chien, Wis.

My 10-year-old son and I were two of the 40 or so who boarded a charter bus at 6:30 a.m. in late February armed with binoculars and filled with the anticipation of seeing more eagles in one day than we had in a lifetime.

What I wasn't prepared for was how much I would learn about the bird that became the national icon in 1782. I was reminded, for example, that Benjamin Franklin objected to the selection and would have preferred that our Founding Fathers had chosen the wild turkey instead. Bald eagles, he argued, were scavengers that ate carcasses and stole food from other animals.

He wasn't wrong. Eagles are raptors. Along with hawks and falcons, they have a hooked beak, strong feet with eight sharp talons and keen eyesight - all important tools to maintain their carnivorous diet.

While this fact may not have impressed Franklin, it did impress my son. In fact, my son was fascinated to learn eagles can spot their prey from a mile away. Each talon can exert 1,000 pounds of pressure.

More impressive statistics: the eagle's wing span can be up to 7 feet (about two feet taller than my son); their body is covered by about 7,000 feathers, which they shed, or molt, biannually.

Should you find a feather, though, keeping it is illegal. All feathers should be sent to the National Eagle Repository in Colorado, which distributes feathers to Native American tribes around the country.

Another interesting feather fact: bald eagles aren't born with their distinctive white head and tail feathers. Premature eagles are brown and develop their characteristic features around the age of four.

While there are tens of thousands of eagles today, the population was in decline in the 1970s, in part because of the use of DDT in agriculture. These days, bus tours and events like the one we were on aim to educate the public about the dangers of lead poisoning in eagles and other wildlife because of the use of fish hooks and bullets containing lead.

It's impressive to see eagles from afar. Up close, it's awe inspiring.

At Prairie du Chien's Bald Eagle Appreciation Days we met Valkyrie, a 12-pound female bald eagle living under the care of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside, Wis. At 4 years old, she was just getting her distinctive white head and tail feathers. Several experienced birders were particularly excited to see a juvenile bird up close.

My son agreed.

'It was really cool that I came within two feet of a live bald eagle,” he said.

I couldn't agree more. As her handler stood before me, Valkyrie began to flap her wings and, for a moment, as the wind from her wings hit me, I caught my breath.

As it turned out, Valkyrie was one of 30 or so eagles we would see on our trip.

Dennis Kirschbaum, a bald eagle enthusiast and volunteer with Effigy Mounds and host of the bus tour of the Prairie du Chien area, explained that the number of eagles on the Mississippi depends on weather.

'Normally we would have a lot more open water at this time,” Kirschbaum told us. 'All we can do is set a date and hope the birds show up for the event.”

This year, he says, March 16 to 18 will most likely be the peak of the migration season in Prairie du Chien. The date varies to the north and south.

On this leg of the trip, we saw about five eagles, including two sitting in a tree together and one sitting in its nest. The nests - 5 to 6 feet in diameter and 3 feet tall - were very easy to spot and impressive even at a distance.

On our return trip to Cedar Rapids, we stopped in Guttenberg near Lock and Dam Number 10, which Brian Gibbs with Clayton County Conservation calls 'a hot spot of activity for eagles year-round.” In 2014, 49 active eagle nests were documented in Clayton County.

Eagles flock to the open waters to hunt for their favorite fish, gizzard shad. There we spotted another five eagles, including one swooping in to perch across the river.

We saw a variety of other wildlife throughout the day as well, including deer, red-tailed hawks and about as many wild turkeys as eagles. Frankly, I don't know what Franklin saw in them.

As we rode the bus home, we added another four eagles to our tally.

By the end of the day, we truly had eagle eyes.

FYI: The eagles have landed

' In Linn County? A pair of bald eagles has nested in Pinicon Ridge Park near the watercraft concession. For more information, go to Mycountyparks.com

' Get up-close-and-personal without leaving the couch by logging on to the Raptor Resource Project's Eagle Cam As of Feb. 25, there were three eggs in the nest.