DUBUQUE BALD EAGLE WATCH

DUBUQUE BALD EAGLE WATCH. The 47th Bald Eagle Watch was held in January 2008. The event was organized by the Dubuque Eagle Watch Committee comprised of members of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iowa Department of Natural Resouces/Mines of Spain, Dubuque County Conservation Board, City of Dubuque Leisure Services Department, Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau, NATIONAL MISSISSIPPI RIVER MUSEUM AND AQUARIUM, TEAM Dubuque, The Friends of Jackson County Conservation and the Dubuque Audubon Society.

The program was initially organized to count and report the winter populations of bald eagles as part of the national recovery program that rescued the bird from dangerously low numbers. In 1960 the Dubuque Audubon Society participated in the first survey. Their territory to survey was between Lock and Dam #11 at Dubuque and Lock and Dam #12 at Bellevue. The program gradually evolved into an educational and informational family event.

On January 7 1989 MARSHALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL was the site of the first indoor program held in conjunction with the Bald Eagle Watch. In 1990, five hundred people attended the event to see Eagle Watch displays and life raptor programs. In 2002, six hundred people attended the two "love raptor" programs and 2,500 came to Lock and Dam #11 to view the eagles.

In 1998 the National Fish & Wildlife Service asked the Dubuque Audubon Society to monitor an eagle nest across the river in Wisconsin. Eventually three eaglets were fledged from the nest.

In 2004 the Bald Eagle Watch indoor events were moved to the Grand River Center and expanded to include special Friday raptor programs for elementary school children.

Along the MISSISSIPPI RIVER the number of eagles has increased dramatically. During the 2005 Audubon Annual Christmas Bird Count, a total of 4,796 eagles were counted.

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Source"

Wiederanders, Nita and Yonda, Colleen. "Bald Eagle Watch a Dubuque Tradition," Julien's Journal, January 2008, p. 35.