As is typical in early March, our eagle photography season is coming to a close. The ice is melting and with that, the birds are dispersing widely, and some are already heading back north to their nesting areas. It can feel like a dramatic transition sometimes, going from hundreds of eagles to now just a few local nesters. But such is spring on the Mississippi flyway. It is a time of great change, especially for the birds. The White-Fronted Geese and Snow Geese are flying over in great numbers too. And with that, you know spring isn’t far behind.
As winter seasons go, this one wasn’t too bad. It got cold enough eventually to bring great numbers of birds into certain areas. Some “tried and true” places like the Iowa river had a tough go of it. There was so little flow out of the dam above Iowa City that many of the birds eventually dispersed off that river to others nearby. Cedar Rapids had good numbers for most of the winter on the Cedar, and on the Mississippi, we finally had very good numbers back on the dam here. One count if I recall was over 400 birds and as is typical, they missed a few in that calculation.
There’s no doubt though, the Iowa River corridor needs to see some moisture from up North. The reservoir North of Iowa City is quite low and has been for the second year in a row. So we’ll hope for the best for this spring and summer. No floods thank you, but some decent moisture would be appreciated.
In the end, as I go back through some eagle images, I end up thankful for having the chance to see them up close and in person. The privilege has never been lost on me.