National Eagle Center

I visited the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN today for the Soar with the Eagles Festival. This time of year, Wabasha is a great place to see Bald Eagles because the rapids from the Chippewa River in Wisconsin converge with the Mississippi, hampering ice formation and providing plenty of food for the eagles during their mating season. I've been told that you can see 10's or even 100's of eagles in Wabasha if you're lucky.

Unfortunately, this year the La Nina effect has allowed more ice formation and has forced the eagles to look for food in other locations, like Red Wing, MN. I did see two wild eagles, though. One sitting in a tree about 1/2 mile away and one that flew at eye-level about 20 feet from the car as we were leaving. That right there made the trip worth it.

Aside from the eagle sitings, the National Eagle Center has some great indoor exhibits and several injured eagles on display.



There were also three rooms packed with presentations. We went to two: one by an eagle photographer who admitted to feeding wild animals Poptarts(R) and one Eagle Feeding. The Eagle Feeding was my favorite, because, let's face it, watching a gigantic bird rip apart a large, dead rat is so much more exciting than anything else I could have done in Rochester. The bird we watched devour a rat tail like a piece of spaghetti is actually a famous bird named Harriet, who has appeared on the MN Veteran License plates, the Today Show, and the Colbert Report:

http://blueskybroadcast.com/Client/NEC/colbert/

The Eagle Center also had a special guest - a Harpy Eagle (a.k.a. The Monkey-Eater Eagle) from South America. This is one of the top two largest eagles in the world and can grow to be 20 lbs. It's an extraordinarily beautiful bird, unlike anything I've ever seen here in the United States. Unfortunately, it's very much endangered, so if you ever see one in the wild - please don't shoot it! Thanks in advance for your cooperation. :)