6 TH EB VASUED. UW BiOgN BB UE eer ee lee 
A JANUARY BALD EAGLE COUNT 
By ELTON FAWKS 
ON JANUARY 31, 1960, two parties went on an all-day Bald Eagle count. 
The writer, with Peter Petersen, Jr. and Mike Yeast, drove to Dubuque, Iowa, 
to start the census. We worked downstream to Muscatine, Iowa. Bob Trial 
and Ted Greer worked the area from below Muscatine to Keokuk, Iowa. 
The purpose of the trip was to count the adult and immature Bald Eagles 
wintering near open spots in the Mississippi River. The writer has carried 
on extensive counts several times a week for the past two winters. Peter 
Petersen has taken part in many of these counts, as well as some of his 
own. These will be published later. 
The day was extremely foggy, but by the time we reached Dubuque much 
of the fog was gone. However, the Trial and Greer party experienced fog 
most of the day. The river from Dubuque to Muscatine could be reached 
only at towns, locks, and dams. From Muscatine to Keokuk the route fol- 
lowed the river to a large extent. If any eagles were missed, it was due to 
the fog. We feel that some eagles were missed on the upper portion, as some 
open water couldn’t be reached. However, all the major open areas were 
covered. At Lock and Dams 13 and 14 some eagles might have !eft the area 
because of the number of people nearby. Summary of nearly 250 miles of 
river: 
Adult Immature Age 
Location Birds Birds Unknown 
Dock iee Dubuque. sid. .e = eee 0 0 
Lock] 2 Bellevue. |] arene ae 19 6 
Hock loasiuiton: = lee ee 1 0 
rock U1 4seH ampton, tl eee ees 0 0 
Lock 1b) Davenport, la-4 ee 0 0 
Credit Island, Davenport, Ia............... 15 i 
Lockstey Muscatine a. 2a eee 8 0 
GockilT eee) ere ae ee) 3 3 
New sBoston;piliiees.) ten ent ee 3 1 1 
New Boston Pumping Station............ 1 1 
DocketS a Burlhinetony sla. eee ee 22 4 
Hortelacdisonyala ee eee ee 2 4 1 
Locke ove Keokuk elas ate eee 8 4 11 
Dotals 3.3. e eh ee: ee ere 82 29 13 
This gives a grand total of 117 eagles, of which 104 were clearly seen and 
could be aged; 82 adults or .7875% and 22 immatures or .2125% was the 
ratio. These percentages are close to my early and midwinter counts. My 
late winter count (still going on as this is written) indicates a smaller per- 
centage of immatures. 
Mr. Bob Wade of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports for the week 
of February 7 from the Thomson (Lock 18) area a total of 72 adult and 
13 immature Bald Eagles. These are .847 and .153 on a percentage basis. 
It is our hope to make this an annual count cver a much larger area. De- 
tails will be announced later in the Audubon Bulletin. 
