An Alaskan cruise is a sure way to see bald eagles, but a Beaver Lake eagle tour is much cheaper.
For $10, passengers are ferried deep into the lake’s isolated Van Winkle Hollow arm that holds one of the largest concentrations of eagles on the reservoir.
Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area ofters six tours each week to see bald eagles. Cruises are aboard the park’s sparkling new 24-passenger pontoon boat. The ship sails from Rocky Branch Marina each Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The $10 ticket is for adults, $5 for children ages 6 through 12, and children younger than 6 ride for free. Cruises are a go if a minimum six people sign up and the lake is not whipped with whitecaps.
Hobbs State Park eagle cruises pick up where the “Belle of the Ozarks” trips left off when the owners of the sightseeing boat discontinued them. There are a few dift erences.
Hobbs State Park provides quality binoculars to all passengers. The 28-foot pontoon boat is pushed by a 200-horsepower outboard and travels faster so more of the lake can be explored. Passengers are required to wear life jackets that are also provided.
There’s no restroom on board.
Bald eagles are plentiful at Beaver Lake whether seen by pirogue or pontoon. A Sunday afternoon cruise on Dec. 21 saw 30 bald eagles, a record since the cruises started in November.
Park employees and volunteers are interpretive guides on each cruise sharing facts about bald eagles and Beaver Lake, the winter home for 200 to 300 eagles.
Terry Elder, the park’s volunteer coordinator, led the Dec. 21 cruise. She said the tours offer an opportunity to see one of the most beautiful, remote parts of the lake as well as majestic bald eagles.
“A lot of people have never been on this lake,” she said. “And it’s where most of us get our drinking water. Did you know that one in eight people in Arkansas get their water from Beaver Lake?”
Elder also revealed how to tell soaring bald eagles from turkey vultures. An eagle soars on a flat wingspread while a vulture’s is V-shaped. “V for vulture,” Elder said.
Other eagle facts Elder shared include the story of Benjamin Franklin, who lobbied for the wild turkey, not the bald eagle, to be our nation’s symbol.
“Ben didn’t think the eagle’s character (as a sometimes scavenger) was a true representation of the new country,” she said.
Also mentioned: Bald eagles migrate to Beaver and nearby lakes each fall and winter from the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada.
They roost at the lake until mid-February when they return to their nesting grounds up north.
Jing He of Bentonville and Lillian Bern of Rogers listened intently, then delighted in seeing so many bald eagles on their first Hobbs eagle cruise.
Jing He said the trip was better than she expected with so many eagles seen. Bern likes the lake’s tranquility as much as seeing eagles.
“I love how peaceful the lake is during the winter. And then people get so excited when we see eagles.”
The eagle tours are part of a lineup of new activities at the park and lake. Group kayak trips are planned and a group overnight backpack trip is in the works. Lake sightseeing tours on the pontoon boat start in March once the eagles depart.