Bald Eagle Survey January 2026

Bald Eagle. Photo by Jeff Bryant.

By Roger and Cathy Digges

Since January, 2018, we have conducted a census of Bald Eagles on those areas we can access along the Illinois River and its backwaters between Havana and Beardstown. January is a good time to count eagles because our population of this iconic bird swells during the winter. Eagles from well to our north migrate to the open water that the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers provide in central Illinois.

While the number of birds we have seen has varied from as few as 8 to as many as 49 in the areas we are able to count, just seeing one eagle perched in a tree or flying overhead makes the survey well worth the long drive out and back to Havana as well as the sometimes-bracing cold that goes along with it.

On January 9, Cathy and I left for our starting point in Havana not knowing what to expect on an unseasonably mild morning. We were thrilled to have multiple eagles flying overhead above the river in Havana chattering with each other. We left Havana having observed 17 birds. We found more when we walked out on the River Swale dike at the Sanganois Fish and Wildlife Area.

The view from the levee at Beardstown didn’t disappoint either. We closed our count with a total of 43 Bald Eagles after walking the dike that helps impound Anderson Lake. 26 of the eagles we observed bore the all-white head and tail of adult birds, 16 were immature, and 1 was too far away and too much in shade to tell.

On the lower side of the Anderson Lake dike, we and several thousand Greater White-fronted Geese surprised each other as they exploded off the shallow water. On the lake side of the dike, several dozen Trumpeter Swans sailed placidly away from us. It was a tiring but wonderful day!