Eagle-watching is a popular wintertime activity in the Quad-Cities. Dozens of bald eagles can be seen soaring, swooping and diving over the Mississippi River.

The eagles migrate in a wave down the Mississippi Valley as they leave their northern nesting areas during the winter and go south, usually in December and January, then return in early spring, generally in late February to mid-March.

The late Elton Fawkes, a Quad-Cities conservationist, was instrumental in calling attention to the decline of our national bird and helped set aside eagle-nesting habitat near Port Byron as a nature preserve.

When the eagles can find open water to feed on fish, the best times to watch for them generally are 7:30 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 4 p.m. Their favorite snack is a 6-inch gizzard shad. They like to fish below Lock and Dam 15 because the shad are stunned when they go over the dam.

There are several good places to see eagles along the Mississippi locally:

	Along the levee at the foot of Perry Street in Davenport.
	On Credit Island in western Davenport.
	From the Rock Island bicycle path along the riverfront.
	At Lock and Dam 14, at the north edge of Hampton or downstream from LeClaire.
	Near the Quad-Cities Nuclear Power Station at Cordova, north of the Quad-Cities.