Statewide Iowa — Iowa is in the middle of its annual bald eagle population survey and, according to the Iowa DNR, although the numbers are still coming in, all indications point to 2022 being a really good year for eagles wintering in Iowa.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says 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, which 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.
Stephanie Shepherd is a wildlife biologist with the DNR’s Wildlife Diversity Program. She says that this year, they’ve had routes on the Iowa River in east central Iowa report more than 700 eagles, including 400 in a one-mile stretch. She says the lower stretch of the Des Moines River had a lot as well with more than 1,500 eagles reported from three routes. She says that it looks like it’s going to be a pretty good count this year and the traditional hot spots from the Mississippi River are yet to come in.
As many as 44 states have participated in the survey providing an important long-term dataset when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considered removing the bald eagle in 2007 from the endangered species list.
She says that it includes both juvenile and adult eagles and the percentage of juveniles, which is an important metric in determining if the population is steady and not decreasing. The dropping juvenile numbers was one of the alarms that brought attention to the plight of bald eagles during its population crash.
The bald eagle population trend extends beyond Iowa’s border to include other Midwestern states, as well. She says we may be reaching population capacity, which she says is, “pretty cool.”
Shepherd says Iowa’s resident eagles rarely leave the state. The state population is measured by nesting success and since the late 1990s, the number of nests in Iowa has increased four to five times, now numbering more than 500 across the state.
According to Shepherd, the best eagle viewing is along Iowa’s rivers where there is open water and roosting trees nearby.
