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Frequently
Asked Eagle Questions
When is the best time to
come to Wabasha to see bald eagles?
Migratory bald
eagles are visible in the Wabasha area from November through the
end of March, but resident bald eagles are visible in the Wabasha
area year- round.
The best time to see aerial
displays and pair bonding is January through March.
November is a great time to
see the beginning of the bald eagle and tundra swan migrations
(across the river from the NEC in Alma, Wisconsin). The best time
is determined primarily by weather the availability of fish, a
good eye and a little patience.
Is the male eagle the one
with the white head and tail and the female the brown bird?
All adult eagles
have white heads and tails, which they get in their fourth or
fifth years, irrespective of their sex. The brown eagles are birds
that have not yet reached adulthood.
What kind of fish are they
catching in the river?
Usually they catch
small shad that have come through the turbines at the dam. These
fish are dazed, dead, or injured and make easy prey for the
eagles. Occasionally eagles may catch other species of fish, but
their main prey are the shad.
Where do these eagles come
from and where do they go?
We don’t know for
sure. There has never been a tracking study done on this wintering
population, but we believe they come from northern Wisconsin, the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Minnesota and Ontario.
How long do they stay here?
The first eagles
usually arrive in November, but their numbers continue to increase
through December. The adult males begin leaving first, usually in
late February, followed within a few days by the adult females.
The youngest birds are the last to leave, but almost all the birds
are gone by the end of March.
How much do they have to eat
each day?
A wintering eagle
has to eat between 6 – 11% of their body weight each day. A
large female eagle weighing 14 pounds needs to consume between .9
and 1.5 pounds of food a day. The amount needed is dependent upon
temperatures, the amount of energy expended to find food, and the
type of food available.
Scavenging in the
agricultural fields in the west provides birds with a high-energy
source of food since red meat contains more calories than fish.
Eagles disturbed on their wintering feeding areas are place at a
disadvantage not only may they be driven from their food
resources, but they also need to expend more energy to find other
food.
What do they eat?
Mostly fish with
some carrion collected in the fields west of the river. They may
also take a duck now and then along with rabbits and other small
mammals.
How big are eagles?
“Big” is a
descriptive word that must be defined. For instance, does the
questioner mean length, weight, or wingspan?
Adult sized eagles,
depending on sex and age, will have a wingspan of 6-8 feet.
Females have larger wingspans than males and first year birds will
have larger wingspans than older birds of the same sex. Eagles
will weigh between 8-14 lbs. with a body length of 30” to 43”.
Females are about 30% larger than males.
How long do they live?
About 20-30 years.
Where do these eagles nest?
Eagles usually build
a nest about 1/3 of the way from the top of a “super-canopy”
tree and near a lake or river. While most of Minnesota’s eagles
nest in the northern part of the state, there are several active
nests in Wabasha and Buffalo Counties.
How big is an eagle nest?
Nests are
refurbished each spring before the eggs are laid, but other
material may be added after eggs are laid and even when the chicks
are still in the nest. Nests therefore grow through the years.
Most nests are about 4’ wide and 3’ or more deep. Nests get so
large though they often bring down the tree they are built in. A
record nest can made it to 12 feet wide and fifteen feet tall and
weighed over 1000 pounds.
When do they nest?
Eagles in Minnesota
begin nesting in February by laying 1-3 eggs which hatch about 35
days later.
Are those hawks sitting in
the trees with the eagles?
Probably not. Eagles
do not get their white heads and tails until they are about five
years old. Before that, they have brown heads and tails and may be
confused with hawks. There are, however, red-tailed hawks in the
area, but they are much smaller than eagles and generally have a
white breast.
Can they see us?
Yes! Eagles have
eyesight that is probably 3-4 times better than a person. They can
see us about as well as we can see them – if we use binoculars.
They may be even more aware of movement than we are. An eagle can
see objects three to four times farther away than can a human. One
study of the acuteness of eagle sight showed that an eagle can see
another eagle soaring at a distance of 25 - 65 kilometers! (15-40
miles)
How fast can they fly?
Usually they at
about 30 mph, but they can get up to about 50-60 mph if they are
in a real hurry. In a dive, they can exceed 100 mph!
Why do they just sit there?
Winter is difficult
for all wildlife, including eagles. To survive, they are inactive
to conserve energy. The only time that they move is during social
interactions, finding food, bathing, and flying to the night
roost. In fact, eagles spend about 92% of their winter days just
sitting, and the river’s current washes food right to them.
How long have the eagles
been nesting in the Mississippi River area?
In 1968 only one
pair of bald eagles nested across the river from the NEC in the
Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge (UMNWR), today over 130
pairs make the refuge their home. After the ban of DDT in 1973
eagles started returning to the UMNWR en mass.
How much does the nest
weight?
Hundreds of pounds,
some record nests have weighed over 1000 pounds.
How long do eagles live?
Eagles have lived in
captivity for 48 years under ideal conditions; in the wild, this
age may be cut in half.
Where did these eagles come
from originally?
Harriet and Angel
came from the Grantsburg WI area and were rehabilitated at the
University of MN Raptor Center and then transferred to NEC in
2000. Columbia was originally found in Dunbar WI, and was
transferred to NEC for the U of M in 2003.
How can you tell the eagles
are female?
While eagles can
weight 7 - 17 lbs., the females weight 25% - 30% more than
the males. The bald eagle females in this region typically weigh
about 10-12 lbs.
How many eggs do eagles
usually have in one season?
The number eggs can
be from one to four, but most of the time the hen lays two
eggs.
How long do the eggs take to
hatch?
Incubation takes
about 35 days.
How many days is there
between the laying of eggs?
The average time
between egg laying can range from 2 - 4 days, and they
will hatch out that many days apart if all goes well.
How far do eagles travel?
They stay around the
nest, usually within several square miles of the
nest sight. During the non-breeding season, they may travel from
Canada
to the Midwest US along the Mississippi.
What do eagles eat?
For the most part,
an eagle's diet is composed of fish, although they
have been known to eat other birds, raccoons, deer, and various
rodents.
The Mississippi River in many areas including the Wabasha channel
do not freeze over so eagles can catch fish all winter long. |
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