Today, Jen, Kate, Katie and I went out to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge to take in Eagle Days. This is the time of year when bald eagles from all over the upper midwest flock (HA!) to the Chain of Rocks for good fishing and socializing. The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge is one of my favorite things about St. Louis. I mean, how often do you get to walk on an old ass bridge over the Mississippi with our beautiful downtown in the distance? On this day, it was cloudy and quite cold, so the standard scenery was kind of drab, but it made up for it with the majestic bald eagle.
For those who don’t know, the bald eagle is the Official Bird of the USA. Now, that lesson time is over, let’s focus on the photographs.
In this photo, you can clearly see two bald eagles sitting on a submerged rock in the middle of the Mississippi:
Here, you can see two eagles chilling in the branches of this tree:
OK, so the images weren’t that awe-inspiring (time for a digital SLR with a badass telephoto lens), but Kate had brought along Dad’s binoculars, so we were able to watch the eagles fly around and catch fish. A helpful Missouri Conservation Department volunteer gave us lots of great info about bald eagles and let us look through his super scope, which had even more magnifying power than the binoculars. He said that they had spotted 64 eagles, which is a lot, even for this time of year. He also confirmed Katie’s hunch that if it wasn’t cold and miserable out, then the eagles wouldn’t be out in such force. To sum it up, it was fricking cold out, so we didn’t dilly dally as much as we might if it was sunny and 70 degrees, but it was still a great time.
In addition, we can now scratch off another from the STL101 list:
9. Eagles fly while you stand gravity-bound on the Chain of Rocks Bridge, gazing jealously through binoculars on a chilly January weekend. Even better, try watching them dive for fish in the churning waters at Lock & Dam 24 in Clarksville. Well worth the drive.
A grand time was had by all. Click here to see all the pictures.