Eagle Days at the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge is scheduled this weekend.
Special exhibits are planned December 6 and 7 at the refuge north of St Joseph near the US-159 exit off I-29. Staff will offer hourly live eagle shows from 9am to 3pm Saturday and from 11am to 2pm Sunday. The Eagle Viewing Station and the Refuge Auto Tour are open from sunrise to sunset.
This is the 36th year for the annual Eagle Days celebration.
The Squaw Creek refuge is north of St. Joseph and is reached via Interstate 29 by taking the U.S. 159 exit west. Click here for your copy of the Eagle Days flier from the Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Fish and Wildlife Service offers this information on the eagles annual return to the refuge:
Bald eagles migrate to the refuge by late fall and early winter. As many as 300 immature and adult bald eagles and an occasional golden eagle may be seen during the migration peak, usually by the first of December. A record 476 bald eagles were counted during a 2001 survey. The first recorded successful bald eagle nest fledged three young eaglets in the summer of 1997.
A few bald eagles may spend the winter and summer on the refuge. Migrating eagles leave the refuge in spring and summer returning to lakes and streams in the northern forests.
Click here for more information from the Fish and Wildlife Service.