Bald Eagle Watching Days to be held this Saturday in Sauk Prairie

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) invites you to participate in the annual Bald Eagle Watching Days Saturday (Jan. 17) in Sauk Prairie. All Bald Eagle Watching Days events are free and open to the public.

You can watch eagles soar above the Wisconsin River from a newly renovated overlook located at 490 Water Street in Prairie du Sac. Volunteers from the DNR’s Natural Heritage Conservation Bureau will be available at the overlook to answer questions and help you spot eagles from 8:00 to 4:00.

You can also enjoy live raptor shows in the River Arts Center of the Sauk Prairie High School, featuring educational birds and trainers from the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Milwaukee, a screening of a recently recorded rehabilitated bald eagle release with a live expert Q&A session and more family-friendly activities. Full details are available on the Ferry Bluff Eagle Council website, including self-guided tours.

Bald Eagle Watching Days celebrates eagles as they gather in winter areas, providing fantastic viewing opportunities as eagles from northern Wisconsin, Canada, northern Michigan and Minnesota move south in search of food. These raptors have a diet that includes both carrion and fish. When hunting for fish, they congregate in open-water areas below dams along the Wisconsin, Mississippi and Fox rivers, where their growing presence has turned the sites into bird-watching destinations and inspired community events.

This event is cosponsored by Ferry Bluff Eagle Council, the Sauk Prairie Area Chamber of Commerce, the DNR and the Tripp Museum in Prairie du Sac.

Eagle watching continues at the overlook on Sunday (Jan. 18) with volunteers available from 8:00 to 2:00.

The best time to see foraging eagles will be in the early morning from 8:00 to 10:00 as they depart their nighttime communal roosts to feed along the river and two hours before dusk as they return to their roosts. When viewing eagles biologists advise you not to venture too close, as it will cause the eagles to fly off. You are also encouraged to stay in your car unless you are at a staffed viewing site.

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