Quartz Mountain Nature Park’s “In Search of Eagles” concluded Sunday. Seventeen people gathered at Group Camp for an informative presentation and then caravanned around the lake to SEE eagles. The best viewing was found at the Old Lugert town site. Twenty one bald eagles were spotted there. Ten were standing on the shore and eleven were soaring overhead.

It was a great day to close out the scheduled Eagle Watches. However, the Bald Eagles are still here and if a group would like to schedule an Eagle Watch please email Sue the Naturalist at sue@quartzmountain.org. What type of group might like an eagle watch? In the past folks from flower clubs, scout troops, day cares and senior centers have come out to see our National Bird, free & wild.

Other potential groups might be a science club or class, civic or church group or even 5 folks from the same neighborhood! How long will the Bald Eagles stick around? Some years they have left as early as Feb. 3rd (the year of the Ice Storm) and other years they’ve stayed until early March. If continues to cool off significantly at night, they will probably hang around as long as there are dead fish to be eaten.

If however, the overnight lows are in the upper forties the bald eagles will decide “spring is here” and depart for their breeding grounds to the north (Wyoming, Montana, Canada and the like). Lake Altus-Lugert has suffered another fish kill from Golden Algae. This fill kill has resulted is fewer dead fish than the previous kill. However, this time there are more dead sport fish: channel & blue catfish, walleyes and hybrid bass have washed ashore in greater numbers. Much fewer shad have died this round.