Paul will always remember the eagle hours he spent along the Mississippi River south of Red Wing. A first-winter Bald Eagle does not resemble an adult in many ways. One big adult Bald Eagle allowed Paul to approach it without any show of concern.

Seeing one Bald Eagle is exciting; seeing more than one eagle is reason to celebrate. So imagine my excitement when I counted 387 Bald Eagles along a stretch of the Mississippi River in southeast Minnesota as I drove south from the city of Red Wing to Wabasha, a distance of about 29 miles. The mighty Mississippi was mostly ice-free this special day of March, but there was still a monstrous ice cube covering a wide expanse of the river north of the city of Lake Pepin where I found 242 eagles on or near the ice.

When I arrived in the city of Wabasha, my destination for an evening photography program I was presenting for Audubon, I tallied my field census. When I found the total was just 13 shy of 400, I decided I needed to try to find at least 400 eagles the following day when I would return to the capitol of St. Paul along the same route.

The next morning I was careful to check all potential river areas during my drive from Wabasha to Red Wing, and hoped to beat the 400 mark by the time I arrived at Red Wing. It was a truly remarkable time in the riverbottoms of the Mississippi; I had eagles in sight during my entire census, some close, many far from my survey vantage points. When I totaled my count, I was absolutely astonished to find I had documented a total of 695 Bald Eagles along the Mississippi River between Wabasha and Red Wing!

Most of the eagles I sighted during my surveys were standing on the river ice, especially along the north end of Lake Pepin between Lake City and Old Frontenac. But some eagles were perched in trees along the river, and a number of eagles were actively migrating north.

With spring temperatures surging into the 60s, the migrating Bald Eagles soared into thermals that included up to 26 birds in one group. Imagine watching so many eagles circling in an ever-moving vortex of rising air. Other eagles actively flew near the edges of bluffs and ridgelines along the river. Today it seemed as though I saw a higher percentage of immature eagles than the previous day, but that impression may be a reflection of the fact that I saw nearly twice as many eagles overall.

Almost as exciting as these memorable counts was the opportunity to take some super photos of a lone eagle perched in a giant cottonwood tree on the shore of the Mississippi River. The soft sunlight of late afternoon brightened the scene, and the big adult Bald Eagle allowed me to approach as close as I wanted without any show of concern. I reveled in the fact that this grand eagle trusted me to approach within just 50 feet to photograph it. As I finished, I found myself backing away with a level of reverence for an eagle that provided such a treasured opportunity.

This was an amazing opportunity to study, census and photograph the Bald Eagles I encountered along the Mississippi, and it was truly exhilarating to search for more and more eagles en route. Bald Eagles were flying majestically along the river, soaring against the clear blue sky over the Mississippi bluffs, perched in massive trees among the floodplain forest, and standing on the remaining river ice. Bald Eagles were without question the most abundant birds in the region as they migrated north to nesting territories in northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and the northwoods of Canada.

Eagles are genuinely fascinating birds to behold. What a euphoric time I savored among this spring assemblage of American eagles in America’s heartland!

Article and photographs by Paul Konrad

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