We took a road trip along the Mississippi River yesterday, looking mostly for eagles. We found seven Bald Eagles at the Colville Park marina on the south edge of Red Wing. There is excellent river access there, plus a few dozen mallards. Two more eagles were seen between Colville and Wabasha. We visited the National Eagle Center in that city. This beautiful facility is worth a visit. It’s located in downtown Wabasha, on the river. It offers exhibits, well-informed volunteers to answer your questions, huge windows opening onto river views, and four resident birds, three Bald Eagles and one Golden Eagle. All are birds unable to successfully live in the wild.  The eagles are tethered inside. Visitors can get very close to the birds. ( The photo is of the Golden.) We took the Wisconsin side of the river north. A couple of dozen Bald Eagles were on the ice at Alma, just below the lock and dam there. Just south of Alma we watched a large flock of Wild Turkeys flush out of a cornfield and into the woods as a juvenile Golden Eagle made a lazy pass at them. That bird was the highlight of the day. (Web site: www.nationaleaglecenter.org)

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