There is a place in Des Moines, near where the Raccoon River flows in the Des Moines River, where, I was told, bald eagles tend to aggregate. As long as the river doesn't freeze over, they can fish easily there. I sought it out on my recent visit.
Approaching the river, the eagles first seem like so many perched crows:
But getting closer, you can spot their white heads and tails:
Once in a white, they take to flight:
Finally one of them caught a fish:
This started a big fight.
The fish was stolen and re-taken many times.
They would drop the fish into the river, and have to re-catch it there.
At one point. as it was flowing past me in the current, the eagles came so close that my camera couldn't track them anymore. All I got from that fight is this shot of the final winner.
The winner takes its breakfast home. The eagles in this shot don't have white heads or tails - all three are juveniles. Eagles reach maturity only on their 4th year. The more speckled their feathers are, the more immature they are.
In the meantime, there was another fight going on the river bank.
It ended peacefully though, with the participants instead starting to pay attention to the fish fight.
When I was leaving the eagles continued to fly around and look for fish.
Parting shot: View of Iowa State Capitol from the riverwalk:
