I spent a very comfortable three hours yesterday aboard the CQ Princess www.cqriverside, a 97-foot yacht with more creature comforts than should be allowed on the water.
We were on Kentucky Lake as part of a media eagle watching junket put on by the folks at Kentucky State Parks www.parks.ky.gov. Amid the ample food and drink a little work was done.
The trip departed from the Kenlake State Park marina and turned downriver, skirting the Land Between the Lakes www.lbl.org shoreline.
Eagles were abundant. We counted 15 bald eagles and two golden eagles. The white-headed bald eagles (so named because of the white feathers covering the head of a mature bald eagle) were expected. The golden eagles were a surprise.
We saw eagles sitting; eagles riding the thermals; eagles flying low along the shoreline. Even one eagle giving itself a bath.
Kentucky is home to about 80 known pair of resident bald eagles but another 200 to 400 arrive each winter. Many of those spend January and February at the 170,000-acre LBL, the heavily wooded federal property that separates Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley.
Eagles apparently like wintering at LBL. There’s plenty of food, plenty of open water and few interruptions – a combination appreciated by man and beast.
The Outdoor Notebook 