Cruisin’ For Eagles
BEAVER LAKE TOURS OFFER BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF WINTERING RAPTORS
Friday, November 20, 2009
About the time swimmers and boaters say goodbye to Beaver Lake, bald eagles come winging their way to its tree-lined shores for a winter-long stay.
Looking for bald eagles on the lake is a favorite fall and winter pastime for bundled up eagle-watchers, and Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area has just the boat for it.
The park plans eagle-watch tours this winter aboard a spanking new 28-foot pontoon boat that seats 20 passengers.
Park Superintendent Mark Clippinger says cruises leave from Rocky Branch Marina each Sunday and Wednesday at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. A Saturday cruise is set for Dec. 12.
Cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children age 6 through 12.
Children younger than 6 cruise for free.
Advance tickets are required and can be arranged by calling the park visitor center at 789-5000. Tickets cannot be purchased at the boat.
Clippinger says the park staff will gauge the popularity of the cruises. More Saturday cruises may be added and more weekday trips could be offered as the bald eagle population nears its peak in January at Beaver.
Park staff and volunteers will guide the trips to help passengers spot eagles and talk about wildlife around Beaver Lake. Guides share information about the lake itself and about Hobbs State Park. At 12,000 acres, Hobbs is Arkansas’ largest state park.
Trips will be primarily in the Van Winkle Hollow arm of Beaver Lake, which holds one of the higher concentrations of bald eagles each winter. The Indian Creek arm, near Beaver Dam, typically has the most.
Passengers should bundle up and dress for weather that is 20 degrees colder than on land. The boat is an openair pontoon boat. Binoculars and life jackets are provided.
There is no restroom on board.
Cruises last 90 minutes to 2 hours.
Bald eagles migrate to Beaver Lake primarily from the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. They move south seeking ice-free open water to catch fish, but eagles also eat waterfowl and carrion.
Weather plays a big role in their numbers at the reservoir, says Alan Bland, a park ranger with the Army Corps of Engineers at Beaver.
“The nastier it is up north, the more eagles we’ll get,” Bland says.
During a mild winter, bald eagles may find open water farther north in Missouri or even Iowa. The number at Beaver Lake swells when ponds and smaller lakes across Northwest Arkansas freeze and Beaver is the only open water.
The corps does a two-day eagle count each January. Lastyear’s count turned up 169 bald eagles on the lake.
That’s about average, Bland says, but adds that the number can vary from day to day. The record count is 269 eagles that were tallied one January in the early 1990s.
Not all bald eagles are migrants. There is one bald eagle nest on Beaver Lake.
The adult male and female are resident birds that remain at the lake through the spring and summer, long after migrant eagles have returned north.
Other than the Beaver Lake nest, there are no known active bald eagle nests in Northwest Arkansas, according to Joe Neal of Fayetteville, a biologist and co-author of the book “Arkansas Birds.”
“There have been some active nests as recently as a few years ago,” Neal says. Eagles have nested in western Benton County near Gravette and Centerton.
Most Arkansas eagle nests are in the eastern tier or along the Arkansas River.
Entertainment, Pages 12 on 11/20/2009
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