National Eagle Center

This afternoon, my spousal unit and I visited the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN. A couple of other bird bloggers have posted about their recent visits to the NEC and even though I live less than 50 miles away, I have never been there.

It's quite a beautiful facility, located right on the Mississippi River in the heart of downtown Wabasha. There are live eagles on display at all times. Here's a couple of close-ups of Angel. She's 6 years old.

Just off the main lobby, there is a live eagle exhibit area where the eagles spend most of their days. The Center has 3 resident Bald Eagles: Harriet, Columbia, and Angel.

Here are a couple photos of Harriet.

They also have a Golden Eagle in residence. I don't know the name of that bird.....but it was quite magnificent also.

Here's a little video of Angel watching some eagles that were flying over the river outside of the Center. You can almost sense her frustration as she looks away from the window....she can see the other birds, but knows she can't fly out and join them.

The woman working there said that Angel sometimes gets quite upset when she sees eagles flying past outside. We could hear Angel calling and that's what drew us over to see what she was so upset about (I was too late to get a movie of her calling to the outside eagles).

The Center has a couple of outside observation decks and we were lucky enough to see several eagles outside--flying and perched in trees. Wabasha is located at the confluence of the Chippewa and Mississippi rivers, so there is always open water, making this area quite desirable for eagles and other waterfowl. We also saw several female Common Mergansers and I managed to also get a picture of this Common Goldeneye.

So if you're ever in the Wabasha area and have an hour or so of extra time, please be sure to visit the National Eagle Center. The chance to learn more about Bald Eagles and see them up close is definitely worth the small admission price of $6.00.