Iowa is in the middle of its annual bald eagle population survey and although the numbers are still coming in, all indications point to 2022 being a really good year for eagles wintering in Iowa.
Bald eagles are migratory, but only travel as far as necessary to find food. Eagles wintering in Iowa likely came from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, that have large resident populations, and join resident Iowa eagles looking for river sections with open water to dine on fish and waterfowl.
For years, the Mississippi River along eastern and southeastern Iowa was home to the highest number of eagles – both resident and wintering – but in recent years, the Iowa River and the Des Moines River have hosted more eagles.
“This year, we’ve had routes on the Iowa River in east central Iowa report more than 700 eagles, including 400 in a one-mile stretch,” said Stephanie Shepherd, wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Diversity Program. “The lower stretch of the Des Moines River had a lot as well with more than 1,500 eagles reported from three routes. It looks like it’s going to be a pretty good count this year and we still have the traditional hot spots from the Mississippi River yet to come in.”
The survey began nationally in the 1980s when states were recruited to join the study. Participants would identify stretches along rivers as places where eagles would gather in the winter making them more easily counted. The survey routes are driven during the first two weeks of January. These initial routes have been part of Iowa’s surveys since the state joined the count in 1991.
The population census had been managed by the U.S. Geological Survey, but is now housed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As
