With the chilly air and clear skies, it was an ideal day to make a short road trip to Alton for some eagle watching. It took a while before we spotted what we were looking for, but there was plenty of loveliness to be found at the water fowl sanctuary. The frozen waves were awesome. 

We drove around the area and went through the same drill as the real bird watcher folks. We’d scan the trees and the air, spot something interesting, slow down, pull over, point, sit and watch. The only difference was that we seldom got out of the car, weren’t bundled up to our eyeballs and didn’t have binoculars. Bird watcher folks are hard core! 

Then we found a grove of trees where the real rock stars of the area were congregating. We lost count of the eagles in this grove of trees. Three are pictured below, but this tree hosted as many as five at once while we were there. Nearby trees hosted several more. They were spectacular. 

While many folks huddled together to get the best look at the eagles, there were plenty of other birds to watch.

Check out these trees. We spotted these on the way to the Missouri/Mississippi River confluence area. At first, we thought that we hit the eagle viewing jackpot. Whoa!

Then we noticed that none of the “birds” were moving. Not even a feather ruffle. Ohh… then we figured it out. These weren’t birds at all. This was a gaggle of bird nests! Not eagle nests, obviously, but some type of nest.  

Okay, so we felt a little silly. But a few minutes later, we were at the confluence and our embarrassment was forgotten. Pretty cool stuff. And a nice way to end the holiday break.