When the winter weather gets bad and the frigid winds start howling out of the North, many birds will seek shelter in various ways. Woodpeckers and Flickers will get on the downwind side of a tree trunk and just hunker into it. It’s still cold of course…but the windchill is buffered a bit…and every little … Read more
Experience counts for a lot on the big river. When a Bald Eagle earns its white head and tail…you know it’s learned a thing or two about survival. Unlike the brown juvenile birds, the adults don’t tend to waste energy…especially during bad weather. They hunt and fish with purpose, and use their knowledge of the … Read more
Out well before dawn, looking for eagles on the quickly thawing ice…but the baldies were uncooperative. Instead, I spent breakfast with a couple of Kingfishers. The light and the photographs were not very good, but the experience was grand. This male caught six fish in a row, diving not too far out in front of … Read more
Most people know that eagles need open water for fishing…which is why we see some large congregations around here in the winter months. But almost as much as open water, eagles love the ice. They have no problem sitting on it for hours…and in truth, their main interest isn’t the ice itself, but what it … Read more
Locked and loaded… is a term I used to hear so often in sales meetings that I began to roll my eyes whenever the phrase was uttered. As I saw it, it was overused and beaten to death in motivational speeches. Watch an eagle descend on a fish, however, and you get the true meaning … Read more
Old Abe was the Civil War mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He came to them after being taken from a nest by a Native American, then traded to a fellow for a bushel of corn. Soon realizing the Bald Eagle made a terrible pet, he eventually sold the bird for $2.50 to … Read more