Flying for Food in Winter

At a Super Bowl party yesterday, my buffalo buddy Cousin Don said he spotted a bald eagle recently in the area. I was curious, so I got the following information from one of our bird experts at the Illinois Natural History Survey where I work: To my surprise, Illinois is second only to Alaska as a refuge area for bald eagles in winter because of the Mississippi and Illinois River corridor. Higher-than-usual concentrations of the eagle in Illinois this winter and sightings of the eagle in areas away from the rivers are due to the freezing of much of the Mississippi and Illinois. Eagles cannot get at fish in frozen waters, so they go where the water is still flowing, for instance, at locks and dams. At Lock & Dam No. 13 on the Mississippi River in northwestern Illinois, a concentration of some 400 eagles was sighted recently. Eagles have been spotted flying over Champaign too, probably seeking water that is not frozen for fishing. Eagles have also been spotted next to highways, feasting on dead animal carcasses. So, if you're lucky enough to spot a bald eagle nearby, you can probably thank Ma Nature's deep freeze.