River Eagle Nest GPS Coordinates: 2012

My Disclaimer

I have spent most of my adult life working on the Mississippi River spying on bald eagles while piloting boats. There is a lot to look at, and time to look while traveling at an average breakneck speed of 6 mph! My wonderful wife claims this skill is not one I should use while driving our vehicles. It has been remarkable watching their numbers dramatically increase. The first few years , circa 1988+, on the Steamboat Julia Belle Swain's and Riverboat Twilight's 2 day Mississippi River Adventure to Chestnut Mountain Ski Resort, we were hard pressed to find eagles close enough to the boat for the passengers to see.

I remember it only being a few per week and once one was spotted, trying to direct our passengers' gaze to the correct tree, usually 1/2 mile or so away, proved to require as much a skill as piloting the boat. I described it as "looking down a golf course fairway looking for a golf ball in a tree, and the once you find it, you've found the bald eagle's head". Passengers seemed to be seeing more and more birds. I thought it was a result of my oratory skills improving to the point where Ray Charles could find the perched eagle I had been describing. I never thought the increased sightings were a result of there simply being more eagles . Funny how my "self confidence" works that way.

The last few seasons I spent on the Riverboat Twilight, circa 2005, we saw so many birds that my life was threatened by one of the crew members who'd grown sick of hearing me point them out on the boats public address system. I believe her words were something like this... "The next eagle you point out had better be singing and dancing, smoking a cigar, and whistling Dixie OR I'm gonna hurt you!". I'm still alive to tell the story. From 1988 when we would see a few per week to today, where I can see 20 to 30 and often more in my 6 hour watch in a pilot house, is an amazing change to have witnessed. It used to take a measure of skill to look for them, but now it is, at times, like looking for pigeons in Central Park (kinda). If I only saw bald and golden eagles living along the river, I would say I've seen something that most haven't. Watching them build nests, guard their eggs, feed the eaglets, eaglets peek over the top of the nest, venture out in the tree, and eventually fly, has been a special gift. I think it is something I would have imagined seeing only in the pages of National Geographic or on a Discovery Channel program.

I became obsessed trying to photograph and share with my friends what I get to see at work. I think most became a bit bored with my email updates so, I scaled back my eagle watch. Then it came to me..... I'll mark my river charts with the locations of the nests I see at work. This was to be for my own enjoyment and not for any other purpose, I began noting the location of all the nests on my river charts. The Ohio River from Pittsburgh to Cairo, the Mississippi River from Cairo to St Paul, and the Illinois River from Grafton to Lemont. It was a casual work, and I never stopped to count how many nests I had viewed.

And then, tragedy struck.....(dramatic music...DAAAA Daaaa duuuuuuh) .... my basement flooded and I lost 981 miles of Ohio River notes and 300 miles of Illinois River notes. I was crushed to say the least, All of my eagle observations were lost, not to mention my navigation notes for running the rivers. I began to rebuild my observations on new charts when I had an epiphany...I work with a very sophisticated GPS navigation system and I can use it to document GPS positions of all the eagle nests I see and save it to a blog or something to preserve the notes. TA DA!!!

I hope you enjoy my hobby. It is like an Easter (eagle) egg hunt. Please observe and respect that these are wild creatures and respect their habitat if you wish to try to locate the nests I've seen. I will add a few tips and notes. I work 35 feet above the surface of the river which assists in seeing into the trees. The nests are hard to see in the late spring and summer due to the foliage and the birds are less visible while they are tending to the eaglets during this time. Sometime in June the eaglets start to explore their tree homes and are fun to watch. In my opinion, a cottonwood tree is their preferred platform. I believe it is because of its' "airy" canopy and allowing a bird with an 8 foot wingspan to easily fly into it without injury to their wings. By comparison, think of a sugar maple with its dense canopy of small branches like a spiders web, easily making arrivals and departures hazardous (but I have seen nests in the crook of maples).

This is not a scientific presentation, nor do I claim to be an expert on eagles or anything else for that matter. The nests will have river milage and gps coordinates and the dates of observation. I hope to expand my observations to include how many birds I see during my watches. I am merely a grateful observer of the wonders God has placed on our planet.

With regards,
John

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

UMR mile 579 Upper Mississippi River

UMR 579
42 29.712 N x 90 38.909 W
Picture taken October 21, 2012. This nest is

in easy sight of downtown Dubuque, just below the railroad bridge .

Monday, October 22, 2012

UMR mile 563 Upper Mississippi River

UMR 563

42 20.899 N x 90 26.238 W

Picture taken October 21, 2012. This nest is in easy sight of the main channel just below Stone Slough Light or a few miles above Chestnut Mountain Resort. Previous entry for this nest was 11/11.

UMR mile 561.6 Upper Mississippi River

Chestnut Mountain Ski Resort in the background.

https://www.chestnutmtn.com/activities_winter.cfm

UMR 561.6

42 19.851 N x 90 25.007 W

Picture taken October 21, 2012. This nest is in easy sight of the main channel just above Chestnut Mountain, Galena IL. Previous entry for this nest was 11/11.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

UMR mile 560 Upper Mississippi River

UMR 560

42 18.424 N x 90 25.143 W

Picture taken October 21, 2012. This nest is in easy sight of the main channel just below Chestnut Mountain, Galena IL. Previous entry for this nest was 11/11.

UMR mile 558.4 Upper Mississippi River

UMR 558.4

42 17.149 N x 90 25.346 W

Picture taken October 21, 2012This nest is in easy sight of the main channel just above Bellevue IA. Previous entry for this nest was 11/11.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

UMR mile 595 Upper Mississippi River

UMR 595

42 39.402 N x 90 47.460 W

Picture taken October 20, 2012

This nest is in easy sight of the main channel just above Specht's near Dubuque IA. Previous entry for this nest was 11/11.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

UMR mile 313 Upper Mississippi River

UMR 313

39 45.917 N x 91 22.254 W

Picture taken October 17, 2012

This nest is in easy sight of the main channel just above Hannibal MO. These pics shows 2 adult and 1 juvenile birds. I first noticed this nest on 11/19/10 but didn't get photos that trip.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

UMR mile 574 Upper Mississippi River

UMR 574

42 26.756 N x 90 34.914 W

Picture taken April 18, 2012

This nest is in easy sight of the main channel just below Dubuque IA, on the upper tip of Shinkles Island. These pics shows 1 adult bird.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

ILL River mile 28

Illinois River Mile 28

39" 15.158 N x 90" 36.539 W

Picture taken 4/9/12

This nest is 3 miles downstream from the Kampsville, IL on the west side of the river. You can see that it has been abandoned, probably a bank foreclosure. I have pictures of this nest from last year I will add as soon as I find them.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

UMR mile 341

UMR 341

40 11.321 N x 91 30.605 W

Picture taken April 6, 2012

This nest is in easy sight of the main channel just above Canton MO and Lock and Dam #20. These pics show both adult birds.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

UMR mile 531 Upper Mississippi River

UMR 531

42 00.559 N x 90 08.811 W

Picture taken April 3, 2012

It is located 4 miles south of Sabula, IA. These pictures shows a parent on the eggs and another only 20 yards away keeping watch.

http://www.riverboattwilight.com/

This nest is in easy sight from the Riverboat Twilight's path on her 2 day Mississippi River Adventure. This picture shows the Twilight Right next to this nest. 10 secondes after I had take this picture and set the camera down, 1 of the adult eagles flew out of the nest right in front of the boat.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Illinois River Mile 53

ILL river Mile 53

39 36.262 N x 90 35.703 W

Picture taken Feb 2012

This nest is just downrive from Florence IL on the left descending (east) side of the river almost in sight of the one at mile 56. You can see an adult bird in the nest.

Monday, January 30, 2012

ILL River Mile 185

ILL river Mile 185

40 58.619 N x 89 26.617 W

Picture taken Jan 2012

This nest is below Lacon IL on the left descending side of the river.