Look up – it’s bald eagle season in Colorado.
Several thousand of the majestic birds have migrated here for the winter and about 300 pairs who live in the state year-round are busy fixing up their nests before romance takes flight early next year.
All of them are about to get a big honor from the White House. President Joe Biden is about to sign a law making the bald eagle the national bird. Of course, that’s just a formality. Eagles have been on the Great Seal of the United States since 1782 and these days you’ll see them on everything from beer labels to NFL jerseys. Somehow, though, a formal distinction got overlooked.
That even came as a surprise to one of Colorado’s top eagle experts, avian researcher Reesa Conrey of Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
“I think it is a common misconception. … It’s something I never knew.”
Here are some of Conrey’s tips for seeing eagles in Colorado
“Look anywhere near water, particularly open water, like larger reservoirs (and) some of the big river drainages. ... I think no matter where you are in Colorado, if you go near water, you've got a good chance of seeing a bald eagle.
“It's a great time to look for eagles. We just ask people to remember to keep their distance and be respectful. If the eagles are changing their behavior in response to your presence, you're probably too close, but it's a great time to go look at wildlife.”
There are enough eagles around now that drivers sometimes spot them with a quick glance up to the sky.
“It is pretty common to see them when you're driving somewhere, especially because a lot of our roads and highways follow drainages or low points in the landscape where eagles and people are likely to intersect. We do have eagles in and around Denver, both during the breeding season and the winter (and) you're certainly more likely to see them there in the winter than during the summer.”
“You can see them for a good chunk of the day. … Of course, they're foraging for part of the day, but eagles do a lot of just sitting and roosting. So any time of day is an OK time to look.”
Mature eagles are known for their snowy white heads and tails. Younger eagles can be a little harder to identify:
“People often get a younger eagle confused with golden eagles because it takes four to five years for them to get their adult plumage, but they are significantly larger than our hawks or our falcons. And if you see a congregation that includes some adult eagles, chances are the younger birds that you're seeing without the white head and tail are probably also bald eagles.”
Colorado has about 300 resident pairs. Eggs are laid in mid-February and the eaglets leave the nest around June.
“We don't have as good a count of our wintering eagle population but (birding website and app) eBird suggests that Colorado's portion of the bald eagle population is 15 times higher during the winter compared to the breeding season.”
“During the spring, summer and warmer months, eagles are doing a lot of fishing in Colorado (and) they're eating prairie dogs. We do have a fairly robust population of Black-tailed prairie dogs in Colorado. In the wintertime, bald eagles are focusing more on waterfowl concentration areas. So any place we're getting lots of geese, there's a good chance that we've got a good number of eagles concentrating in those places as well.”
To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org.
