The Eagles Are Back!!

Well, the Bald Eagles are back. Every winter, they come south (yep - who'd a thunk it? Iowa is SOUTH!) and fish in our open rivers until Canada thaws enough for them to head back home in the spring. Here in Cedar Rapids, they hang around the roller dam and a couple other places that have open water for them to fish. Right now, things are fairly well frozen and their open water is pretty limited, so they are all cluster around it and have to share. This guy was sitting in his tree Wednesday south of the roller dam along with a couple other mature eagles waiting their turns.

Across the river (hey - they are always across the river - as far away from the camera as possible!) there were quite a few hanging out (you can count nine in this shot):

Now, if you think that is a lot of eagles, you need to check out these photos: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=118184 The other place they like to feed is an area just north of the roller dam by Cargill. Several geese and ducks have died and are providing some "carcass" feeding for the eagles. These immature eagles have been eating quite well. Sometimes the ice is a little tricky for those big raptor claws:

The crows like to get in on the action too:
This guy was alone and was a little nervous about someone flying above him and possibly chasing him away from his lunch.