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Mound City, Mo. – Viewing bald eagles and migrating waterfowl will be the main attraction when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) host the 43rd annual Eagle Days on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3-4, at the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge. During late autumn, the refuge near Mound City in northwest Missouri hosts thousands of migrating birds such as ducks, geese, trumpeter swans, and shore birds. Bald eagles follow the waterfowl south as a food source, and they also catch fish in the refuge’s wetland pools.
The free Eagle Days activities will include live captive eagle shows and interpretive stops along the driving tour of the refuge wetlands. The event’s driving tour will have educational nature interpretive stops for visitors from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4. The World Bird Sanctuary staff will present live raptor shows in a building at the refuge headquarters. Those raptors have been rehabilitated from injuries but cannot be released back into the wild. Live eagle shows will be given each hour starting at 9 a.m. on Dec. 3 and 11 a.m. on Dec. 4.
MDC and Loess Bluffs will also host school groups for Eagle Days on Friday, Dec. 2. This event also includes educational stops on the driving tour and live eagle shows. Schools must make prior arrangements to participate. Any teacher or school official interested in bringing students to Eagle Days should contact Adam Brandsgaard, MDC conservation educator, at 660-646-6122, ext. 1369, or at Adam.Brandsgaard@mdc.mo.gov.
The numbers of waterfowl and eagles at Loess Bluffs varies with weather being a major factor. Winter weather to the north can push thousands of snow geese and other waterfowl south to the refuge. That also attracts eagles, and sometimes dozens can be seen perched on trees near the driving tour route or on muskrat lodges out on the marshes. However, a major cold snap that covers the wetland with ice can send migrating birds farther south. Often though, Eagle Days has plentiful wildlife for viewing. Visitors will find cameras and binoculars useful.
Spotting scopes will be set up at key points along the tour route for visitors to spot wildlife far out on the marshes. Interpretive stations along the tour route will include displays about mammals, bald eagles, snow geese and other waterfowl, duck calling and waterfowl hunting, and wetland management. Friends of Loess Bluffs and other conservation partners will have outreach tables.
For more information about the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge, visit https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Zt2.
To learn more about eagles and other Eagle Days events in Missouri, visit https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Zt6.
