Searching The Fox River For Eagles

Wisconsin has had very unseasonable temperatures this winter.  It has stayed above freezing for a couple weeks.  As a result, the snow we have is melting slowly leaving the air full of humidity and creating fog.  It has been almost a week since we saw the sun.  From that time to now it has been particularly cloudy.  During January, if some of the river ice melts, the eagles show up in large numbers to fish in the open water.  I have wanted to take a ride to look for eagles, and I have been waiting for a nice day.  I ran out of patience today and lowered my standards.  It wasn't snowing, the temperatures were near 40 degrees and the fog had lifted.  There was a haze in the air, but we went anyway.

There were several areas where the Fox River was open.  We planned a route but didn't have much luck.  We were told that 250 eagles have been spotted in a section of the river from Neenah, WI to Kaukauna, WI.  We stopped at a park where there was a large pier on the river.  We didn't see anything as we were walking to the river but then we spotted several eagles roosting in the trees across the river.

I couldn't get good pictures.  The sky was cloudy and hazy and the eagles were hidden in the trees across the river.  If you look carefully, like one of those magic pictures, perhaps you will be able to see or maybe it's more like Where's Waldo.  There were at least five in the trees.  We didn't see any of them fly.  The funny part is that in the next two weeks we will probably see more flying over our marsh.  I saw one yesterday.  This was an outing that I really enjoyed.

Along the way we saw a lighthouse on Lake Winnebago and several ducks and geese.  The giant mansions in the area were a very interesting sight.  It didn't occur to me to take photos of them until I got home.  I guess all the old money made from the paper industry is still a part of these neighborhoods.

Speaking of the large amounts of money made in the Fox River-Butte des Morts area of Wisconsin,  our daughter's mother in law and good friend introduced me to an old book by Edna Ferber called Come and Get It.  Edna Ferber is an author who wrote famous stories like Show Boat and Cimarron.  She writes about different phases of America in her books.  This book was published 1934-1935 but the story takes place in the early 1900's.  It mostly takes place in Butte des Morts, Wisconsin but also travels to northern Wisconsin lumber camps, Milwaukee and Chicago.  The story is about one of the main characters going from a chore boy in a lumber camp to a lumber-paper making king.  It's a family's  journey of making a fortune and losing it.

The huge houses I saw today reminded of the house this family lived in. The story was written more than eighty years ago so some of the language and words were unfamiliar to me, but overall I really enjoyed the book.  Who knew that our little outing searching for eagles would also remind me of this book.