Starved Rock Eagles

2/17/2014 Starved Rock Eagles

Starved Rock Eagles  Starved Rock State Park lies just across the river from Illinois River locks which keep the water open even in the heart of the winter.  So, Bald Eagles come to the area to fish when other streams and rivers are frozen.  Most years, from mid January to March, 150+ eagles can be found in the trees.  People come from miles around to Starved Rock to see and photograph the eagles.  This year, it has been too cold for too long and although the shipping lanes are open, the lanes are really a slushy mess of water and ice.  The ice chunks are too big for the eagles to see the fish and catch them.  So, only 20-30+ eagles seem to be hanging around the park this year.  They keep close to a couple areas of open water where they can fish and were not close enough for me to get a good image.