Mississippi River Lock and Dam # 15
Rock Island, IL
Trip Log - Feb. 2011
or
My Freezing Cold Quest for the Bald Eagles
"Wait, what does that title say about freezing and bald eagles?!"
(just kidding, eagles can't read :-) To find out why this bird was flying almost inverted, please read on.)
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6AM: As I prepared to leave on the bitter cold day following the Blizzard of 2011, my wife wondered out loud if I was crazy (about heading to the IL/IA border today to photograph birds - she knows I'm crazy in general ;-) ).
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11AM: I stood at Lock # 14 wondering the same thing my wife had. While it was beautifully sunny, it was bitter cold (about 7 degrees Fahrenheit) plus a wind of 10-15 mph. But my biggest problem was that I had not anticipated the lack of any good access to Lock #14. From what I had read, #14 was the place to be in terms of reasonably close positions to the eagles, but it looked like the blizzard was going to preclude access to the nearby park on my preferred, Illinois side - the park was now buried under 18 inches of snow and there was no place to leave the car nearby anyway. I scouted around a little (driving around the area and tromping through deep snow), but finally determined that this wasn't going to work.
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Noon: After a lunch / warm-up break, I contemplated heading back home, but I concluded that since I had come this far, I may as well spend a few more hours checking out some of the other options for photographing Bald Eagles. I didn't know it at the time, but a chance sighting of a sign would turn out to be very important to my trip.
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2PM: No luck with Credit Island or Sunset Park (the park across from Credit Island), and I was giving up on Lock #15 since I couldn't find anyplace to pull over near the lock along Hwy 92 or 24th St (there were 3-4 foot snow banks along the roads).
As chance would have it, I saw a sign for the "Mississippi River Visitor Center." Curious as to what that might offer and also wanting a restroom, I headed off for it. Not realizing that it's part of the Rock Island Arsenal facility, I missed it the first time, drove across the bridge to Iowa before coming back to see the sign pointing right to the military checkpoint. The nice gentleman at the gate checked my id and pointed me to a small building just around the corner from the checkpoint (as well as pointing out that it's about the only place I'm allowed to visit on the base). Link for the Mississippi River Visitor Center.
Eagle perched on ice flow near the Mississippi River Visitor Center (over 500mm full-frame equivalent + additional cropping and still not quite enough lens; I was too lazy to haul the bigger lens & tripod out on to the bridge, and the bridge was constantly wiggling from the cars driving on it) |
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2:30PM: A nice young lady at the Mississippi River Visitor Center offered me a view through their scope at the only eagle in sight from their office and informed me about various viewing options, including a relatively new park that was not on my map (or theirs). Although I had driven by the entrance 2 times in my scouting, the snow banks on the highway and the piles of snow at the entrance made the park virtually invisible if you didn't know what to look for. Fortunately, one of the women working at the visitor center knew that the entrance was at 18th street, so off I went ... to Schwiebert Riverfront Park. I needed a running start to get past the piled up snow in the entrance and after sliding around a little on the icy parking lot, I finally got to the shore of the river. This spot had a decent view towards the lock and the area of trees on which some eagles were perched - alas they were a bit distant (I'd estimate 500-1000'). But at least there was somewhere to hang out and something to photograph :-)
Bundled up and ready for action with Lock #15 in the distance Yeah, I think my left eye automatically closes when I'm holding a camera up :-) |
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The first afternoon was exciting, but challenging - besides the cold, all the activity was distant. A lot of those "spec in the frame" kind of opportunities.
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5PM: Chilled to the bone, fingers and toes numb, and disappointed with the opportunities, I considered skipping out and heading home. However, the forecast was for southwest winds again the next day (which also meant it would be a little warmer), so I opted to spend the night and give it one more try. |
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I spent the next morning trying to find some good subjects in nice light - off to Credit Island, Sunset Park (to get better light angle on the few eagles perched on Credit Island), back to the Schwiebert Riverfront Park and walking along the snow covered river path to try to get a better sun angle on the perched eagles by Lock 15.
I only had a little bit of success and had to retreat to the hotel after a couple of hours to warm up and check-out.
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The afternoon was pretty much the same as the previous day: a little warmer, but still cold with the stiff wind, and most activity occurring off in the distance.
That is until about 4PM... |
