It’s prime bald eagle watching season and Lock and Dam 17 at New Boston serves as one of the ideal viewing locations. According to Ed Cross with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the state sees a large influx of bald eagles during the winter because of frigid temperatures and other habitat factors like the Mississippi River.
The bald eagle was once declared an endangered species in the U.S. Cross says there could be as many as 3,000 bald eagles across the state this winter — a threefold population increase from recent decades. Consequently, the state is now second only to Alaska in the U.S. for winter bald eagle population.