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| By Carmelo Turdo |
During the winter months, The Aero Experience includes coverage of the natural flyers wintering in the Midwest along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Here we feature adult and juvenile Bald Eagles, American White Pelicans and Ring-Billed Gulls seen on Saturday at Lock and Dam No. 24 in Clarksville, MO and at Riverview Park in Louisiana, MO. Bald Eagle activity was lower than last year due to this unusually warm winter, but we had one low fly-by that made the day complete. Though some Bald Eagles remain along the rivers year-round, most will migrate north again over the next two weeks.
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| By Carmelo Turdo |
During the winter months, The Aero Experience includes coverage of the natural flyers wintering in the Midwest along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Here we feature adult and juvenile Bald Eagles, along with American White Pelicans, on Sunday at Lock and Dam No. 24 in Clarksville, MO. A conservative count of 50-60 Bald Eagles in the trees and actively fishing along the riverbanks is a good showing this early in the migration season. Our photo essay below includes the flying and fishing activity observed during our midmorning visit. We will return to Clarksville and other known birding areas in the coming weeks as the bird count reaches its peak.
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| By Carmelo Turdo |
It is winter again in the Midwest, and with it comes large numbers of migrating birds along the waterways of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in the St. Louis area. The Aero Experience begins our Natural Flyers series with this first look at the bald eagles gathering at the Audubon Center Riverlands in West Alton, MO. We were fortunate to encounter this pair of eagles on a low perch near the Melvin Price Locks and Dam. Eventually, they launched, circled and flew off across the river to points unknown. On the other side of Riverlands, we found a number of eagles perched on trees and occasionally fishing. Two featured here were harassed by a gull throughout their fishing expeditions, the second losing the catch in the process.
