Eagle Appreciation Days
An adult bald eagle surveys the water near the Washington Street Bridge. Eagles have been very prominent of late in the Prairie du Chien area. (Photo by Ted Pennekamp)
Bald Eagle Appreciation Days to offer variety
of educational programs, exhibits and live raptors
The 11th Annual Bald Eagle Appreciation Days will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27 in Prairie du Chien. The event will feature new programs and presentations by state and local birding experts. Bald Eagle Appreciation Days will consist of educational and fun activities for outdoor enthusiasts and the whole family.
Free programs open to the public begin Friday evening at 6 p.m. at two Prairie du Chien motels, the AmericInn, 130 S. Main St., and Country Inn & Suites, Highway 35 North. At 6 p.m. at the AmericInn, Robert Vavra, a former clammer, will start off the event with his new program concentrating on the history of clamming on the Upper Mississippi River. Pat Schlarbaum, Iowa DNR representative, will then follow at 7 p.m. at Country Inn & Suites with a presentation entitled “Eagles, Falcons and Ospreys.”
Highlights on Saturday at the Hoffman Hall Recreation Center, 1600 S. Wacouta Ave., will be live bird programs featuring a bald eagle and five other raptors from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., presented by The Schlitz Audubon Society. Other educational programs will include “Bald Eagle Status and Monitoring” by Dan Goltz, Wisconsin DNR Wildlife Biologist, “Tracking the Decorah Eagles” by Eagle Valley Biologist Brett Mandernack, “Viewing Local Eagles Today” by Dennis Kirschbaum, Effigy Mounds volunteer, and “The Return of Iowa’s Bald Eagles” by nature photographer Ty Smedes, who will also host a program called “Loon Magic” at Country Inn and Suites beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday. Numerous activities for children will also be part of the fun.
Outdoor viewing of bald eagles through spotting scopes and a life-sized bald eagle nest will be at the Prairie du Chien Regional Tourism Center, 211 S. Main St.
Attendees will also be able to take in many educational birding and nature exhibits. Children will get to participate in hands-on activities.
Local birding observation at various locations in and around Prairie du Chien will also be available.
Popular Eagle
Viewing Areas
Currently Eagle viewing is dictated by the weather. With heavy snow cover and cold temperatures, the birds will move inland to small streams with open water to feed for fish. Or they will watch for a farmer that is spreading agricultural carrion on snow covered fields.
As the weather warms and snow and ice melts, additional areas of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers will open. This open water will provide bald eagles areas for catching their favorite food source, fish.
In the Prairie du Chien area, this open water will include areas along the river front and along St. Feriole Slough south to the Campion Boat Landing. Check open water areas near the Regional Tourism Center and at the Blackhawk Avenue and Washington Street bridges. A scope works from these locations. Be sure to stay in your car, as a car is the best bird blind you can have at these locations.
The best views of eagle nests occur north of Prairie du Chien. North of the cemetery on Main Street/County Road K, there is a nest on the west side of the highway. This nest can be seen by stopping near the no passing zone sign and looking west. The nest is in a large cottonwood tree in the second tree line. Since early January, a pair of eagles have been visiting this nest.
Three nests are located off of Ambro Road. When County Road K turns to the right, just before the railroad tracks, turn onto Ambro Road. Follow this road to the left into the Ambro Slough area. One nest is located on the Gremore Lake side, east of Ambro Road, just north of the Wisconsin DNR boat landing. This nest is hard to see once the leaves are on the trees. When there are no leaves, you can see the nest by stopping on the road and searching the trees along the edge of the lake just north of the landing. By parking on the boat ramp at the Ambro Landing, you can see a nest in the far tree line straight west of the landing. Just 100 yards south of the Ambro Boat Landing and on the west side of the slough, there is another nest in a large cottonwood tree. This nest is easily seen by simply stopping on the road and looking between the cabins into the first tree line. This is a huge nest and has been at that location for many years.
Lock and Dam 9, 11 miles north of Prairie du Chien, is also a good location to observed eagles feeding or sitting in trees along the river. Go to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lock area or the Gordon’s Bay Boat Landing south of the dam for the best viewing. Eagles can also be found feeding on agricultural carrion in fields along U.S. Highway 18 east of Prairie du Chien, between Patch Grove and Mount Hope. North of Prairie du Chien on Highway 27 near County Road N, watch for eagles feeding on commercial fish waste and agricultural carrion in adjacent fields.
There are five active eagle nests in the Prairie du Chien area that are easily viewed. The pair of eagles using any of these nests is busy carrying branches and other nesting material to the nest in preparation for the upcoming nesting activity. Egg laying will occur in late February or early March.
Prairie du Chien
Viewing Areas
A good spot for eagle viewing is between the Blackhawk Avenue and Washington Street bridges in Prairie du Chien. A large artesian well provides open water. Eagles will perch in trees along the slough. Also check the trees along the Mississippi River shore near and across from Lawler Park on St. Feriole Island. The park is west and north of the Blackhawk Avenue Bridge.
En route to Prairie du Chien, watch for eagles soaring or perching in trees in open field areas looking for food.
Bald Eagle Appreciation Days is sponsored by Effigy Mounds National Monument and the Prairie du Chien Tourism Council.
For a complete list of programs and exhibits, as well as times and locations of activities, call (800) 732-1673, Ext. 11 or visit the website at www.prairieduchien.org.
