We had such a neat experience today. There are areas along the Missouri River in Yankton - specifically out near the Gavins Point Dam - that are popular places for bald eagles to nest and hunt for food. Winter is an excellent time to see them, so today the kids and I hopped in the van to do a little bird watching. We were driving along the road that takes us to the van and saw a vehicle had stopped along the side of the road. We pulled ahead of it and could see a magnificent bald eagle sitting in one of the trees by the river. We watched it for half a minute before it flew away, but that was awesome in itself.

There are areas near the dam that are blocked off during the winter so the eagles can nest and hunt undisturbed by humans, so the best place to view them (both for our view and for the eagles' safety) is at the Lewis & Clark Visitor's Center that overlooks the dam. We went there and watched two juvenile (under two years) bald eagles flying around and dipping down into the water. We're pretty sure they were younger than two years old because they were covered in dark brown feathers, and bald eagles don't start getting their white feathers until two and three years of age. It was so neat to watch them coast on the air currents and see how wide their wing span really is, even for the young ones. They were so close that we could even see the patterns of the feathers on the underside of their wings and body. On the way home, we once again saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree by the river (maybe the same one?), and I was able to get a picture of it because it sat in that tree for nearly two minutes.



What else did we learn about bald eagles today? We learned that:
- females are larger than the males
- their eyes start out dark, turn to a greyish-white during their second/third year and eventually turn yellow
- they're mostly fish eaters but will also eat waterfowl or carrion that hawks might kill. Bald eagles are scavengers and eat road kill.

We were talking about how the bald eagle is a symbol of the U.S., and Cole was really amused when I told him how Benjamin Franklin thought the wild turkey would be a much better representative of the U.S. because of its character.

I think we're going to drive out there on Saturday when Cory's around in hopes that he'll see some bald eagles, too. The kids are really looking forward to February when the visitor's center hosts a birds of prey program. When we've gone in the past, they've had owls and hawks to show the audience. It's a different organization coming this year, though, so I don't know what it will be like.

There are times when I'm not thrilled to live where I do, but this was definitely not one of those days.