Keep An Eye Out For Eagle-Watching Opportunities This Winter

Thanks to a successful reintroduction program at Lake Monroe in Bloomington during the late 1980s, bald eagle sightings are much more common in Indiana.  The cold winter months are some of the best times to see eagles.

One of the largest winter eagle-roosting sites in the eastern United States is on the tailwaters of Mississinewa Lake, where naturalists from DNR’s Upper Wabash Interpretive Services recorded 158 eagles in one day in 2011. Eagles also congregate in large numbers on Salamonie, Monroe, and along Sugar Creek at Turkey Run State Park.

DNR-sponsored eagle-watching events are Jan.21 at Mississinewa, Jan. 27-29 at Turkey Run and Feb. 11 and 12 at Salamonie Lake. For more information, visit InterpretiveServices.IN.gov or call the property you plan to visit.

Former DNR naturalist Jeff Riegel hosts the eagle-watching event at Monroe Lake through a non-profit organization (eaglesatlakemonroe.com). That event is Jan. 27-29.