Eagles 2010

Last year we discovered a new fun outing- going to see the Eagles in Alton, IL. I had been told by many people how fascinating it was and I thought, "Who the heck cares? Why do I want to go see a bunch of birds?" Anyway, last year, on whim, we headed out. It was so much fun that it is now going to be a regular outing!

The first thing that amazes me is how much ice is in the river at this time of year! I love the way it freezes and then the ice stacks up on itself when the river moves. It creates a work of art all by itself:



The eagles usually like to sit on that ice and float down the river. This year, we didn't see any on the river, they were up in the trees. Here is eagle number 1:


The only bad thing is that they are SO high up, you really have to zoom in, so my pictures are not the best. One day I'll have a DSLR with an awesome zoom lens and I'll get some better shots, but for now these will have to do.


The kids like to look through the binoculars to see the eagles. Actually they like to look at anything through the binoculars, but that's part of the fun.

This year it was extremely foggy out. That made the river look sort of mysterious and I really like this shot:
In addition to the eagles, I tried to get some of the other wildlife that we saw. Here are a bunch of geese in a field.

This is just a random dead plant I thought looked cool up against the frozen ground:This is some sort of a vulture or something. It was HUGE, even though it doesn't look too big in the picture. I'd say it was about Stephen's size and when it opened its wings, it looked like something prehistoric:


This is me with my favorite wildlife:


I wish my kids liked having their pictures taken- when I ask them to pose for the camera they always smile weird or flip a finger or do something weird. I end up with a bunch of shots of silliness.

Here is eagle #2:


At the end of eagle watching, we always go eat. Surprise, surprise. The kids love a restaurant in Elsah called the Finn Inn. Inside, there are huge aquariums in between tables and they have really big river fish in them. So, of course, that's where we ate.

We only saw 2 eagles this year, but it was a fun day. The kids have asked if we can try again another day, so that will probably be what we do. If you haven't tried it yet, you should go, it's really fun!