Eagle Watching 2010

Mark and I decided to spend another Sunday out hunting for eagles....hunting with a camera, that is!  We headed up to the Chain of Rocks bridge, which is supposed to be a great site for eagle watching.  This bridge was originally part of the historic Route 66 highway, although it has been closed to car traffic for many years.  These days it is part of the rails to trails campaign, and a walking bridge across the Mississippi River.  The bridge is also known for having a 22 degree angle in the middle of the bridge, which somehow allowed for boat traffic underneath.  The bridge is fairly picturesque in itself and we enjoyed walking across it, although we only spotted one eagle from the bridge.  This is a shot from near the beginning of the bridge.

These are some sort of river houses?/bridge keepers? that are actually on the Mississippi.  We had no clue of their history, origin or purpose, and couldn't find any information on them.  They are cute though!

This is a picture of the angle in the bridge as best as I could photograph it, while being actually on it.

The state line on the bridge in the middle of the Mississippi.

The eagle that we spotted while on the bridge.

Next we headed up towards Alton and Grafton, Illinois, which are the eagle watching towns to visit on the river.  This guy was on the way into town, just posing for the crowds who were gathering below!

I'm still fascinated by the icicles that form on the rock outcroppings when it gets cold.  I make Mark stop the car so that I could photograph these.

Our best eagle watching of the day came as we were heading back into town.  We spotted these two birds again just hanging out and creating photo ops for the worthy humans below.  They are such beautiful creatures!