Today at the Prairie Heritage Nature Center in O'Brien county the annual Bald Eagle Day was held with Bald Eagles seen throughout the day. Shortly after 9:30 this morning a juvenile Golden Eagle was spotted soaring above Waterman Creek valley and then it broke into a long dive that ended by scattering the crows as it settled on the deer carcass below the nature center. That bird stayed in the area the whole day and perched for extended periods where human visitors could view it through spotting scopes and binoculars. It interacted with a Rough-legged Hawk, immature Bald Eagles and a dark phase Red-tailed Hawk of the western subspecies at different points during the day. At one point while it sat perched a second Golden Eagle that was identified as a second year bird floated down the valley but didn't bother to stop. It was my first experience with more than one Golden Eagle at the same time in Iowa.
A highlight occurred just before noon when the juvenile Golden Eagle left a perch and dived into the grass at the forest edge along the river. I had talked about it being more of a hunter than the Bald Eagles were and then it came hopping out with a good-sized catch that appeared to be a squirrel. It then flew around the bend and out of sight to have its lunch. As I was coming back later from having my lunch the Golden Eagle was again soaring above the nature center and gave people yet another series of good views as it continued to work about the area. It was a most cooperative bird the whole day and gave the hundreds of people who stopped by the nature center a good chance to see a rare winter visitor to Iowa along with the Bald Eagles they came expecting to see. When Nature provides a magic show you have to be pleased to be in the audience. I was glad to have front row tickets today!! Lee A. Schoenewe Spencer --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
