Bald Eagle Day

Today was Bald Eagle Day in Utah. Interestingly, Utah hosts one of the largest state populations of wintering bald eagles. The Division of Wildlife Resources started Bald Eagle Day in 1990 as a way to introduce people to Utah’s wildlife. There were several locations around the state where activities were held today. We went to two of them.

At the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (in Brigham City, near the north-eastern-most point of the Great Salt Lake), the events started with a presentation featuring a bald eagle that had been rescued. “Des Ta Te” was a beautiful bald eagle who had been shot in one wing, and subsequently had to have part of the wing removed. The presentation was held in the auditorium at the center, but there were only about 30 people there, so we were able to see “Des Ta Te” pretty closely, and also interact and ask questions of the presenters.
The refuge is beautiful, and we enjoyed exploring all of the other exhibits there, as well.
We stopped for some lunch, and then went to the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, a little closer to home. They also had a variety of activities all day, and we had apparently just missed the governor when we got there. They had telescopes set up for viewing the eagles, and there were 15 to 20 that we could see from the nature center. They also opened the snow-packed road that runs throughout the area, and we were able to drive around to different viewing points to see the eagles. I had run out of film for my 35mm camera, so just took my digital camera. I was very disappointed that I hadn’t made a stop for film. We were not able to get any close-up shots of the eagles. They were beautiful. By this time, it was late afternoon, so they were beginning to roost in the trees. There were about seven in this particular tree, but there were some in other trees all around us.
Further around on the road, there were another dozen, or so, that were on the ice of the lake. The rangers told us that they were catching carp. Every once in a while, one would fly over us going to and from the nearby trees. It was an amazing sight.
Ryan has an assignment to do a report on the animal of his choice. Before today, he was thinking about either the white tiger (remember, he was born in Las Vegas), or the liger (I’m not kidding). He loved learning about bald eagles today, thought it was so cool that he was able to see so many in person, took some fun pictures, gathered some great pamphlets, and also drew a couple of cute pictures. The bald eagle has now become the topic of his report.