7th Annual Prairie du Chien - Bald Eagle Appreciation Day
February 26, 2011
A Family Event with great activities for everyone Free of Charge!
From 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Come and enjoy bald eagles and the other wonderful natural resources of the Upper Mississippi River during Prairie du Chien Bald Eagle Appreciation Day on Saturday, February 26, 2011, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Event activities will be centered along the Mississippi River at the Prairie du Chien Regional Tourism Center, 211 S. Main Street, and the adjacent AmericInn Lodge and Suites at 130 S. Main Street.
Live bald eagle programs presented by staff of the National Eagle Center of Wabasha, Minnesota, will anchor the day of presentations at the AmericInn. The live eagle programs will be presented at 10:30 a.m., at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the lobby of the AmericInn. To start the day, Neil Rettig’s documentary “American Eagle” from the PBS Nature series will be shown at 9:00 a.m. in the AmericInn. At 10 a.m.,Tim Yager, FWS Refuge Manager will present a talk on the status of the bald eagle population on the Upper Mississippi Refuge.
Bob Anderson will give a special talk abou the Raptor Resource Project. Also he will set up a monitor for live viewing of his Decorah Bald Eagle Cam. In between the live eagle programs and other presentations the monitor will continue showing the eagle nest. Filming the nest took place in 2007-08 for the production of American Eagle. In 2009, a camera was put on the web to view the eagles during the nesting season. The Decorah Bald Eagle web page is located at http://www.raptorresource.org.
Educational displays and activities at the Regional Tourism Center will include agency exhibits and a life-size eagle nest replica displayed by Iowa DNR Wildlife biologist Pat Schlarbaum, (weather dependent). A second eagle’s nest replica is available to view at the Effigy Mound National Monument visitor center. Educational books and other items from the bookstore at Effigy Mounds will be on sale – including Neil Rettig’s "American Eagle" DVD. Also at the AmericInn there will be children's craft activities. There will also be two special presentations of the puppet show, "Coyote's Curious Quest" at 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
For more information, contact the Prairie du Chien Chamber of Commerce at 800-732-1673, www.prairieduchien.org, pdccoc@mhtc.net, or Effigy Mounds National Monument, 563-873-3491, www.nps.gov/efmo.
http://www.prairieduchien.org/visitors/eagles.htm
