The months of January and February are great times for Eagle Watching here in Missouri. My little town, Clarksville,Missouri,population 420 is located right on the banks of the Mississippi River. Eagles come to the river to fish when the weather is cold. Lock and Dam number 24 is located on our riverfront. The lock keeps the river from freezing and it makes fishing easy for the eagles.
For the past 10 or so years we have celebrated the Eagle watching with what we call, "Eagle Days." This year , the weekend of January 26 and 27, is when the celebration takes place. The Missouri Department of Conservation comes and brings several live Eagles, along with posters and movies. This all takes place in an old apple packing shed here in town. The "Apple Shed", is now owned and operated by the Raintree Arts Council., This group is from Pike and Lincoln Counties here in Missouri. They host several events each year, such as, art shows, plays, musicals, Applefest and Eagle Days. The movies are shown in the theater and the live Eagle demonstrations take place in the old packing shed. It is spacious, so they can fly about, but has no heat, so tourist must wrap up.We are lucky here, in rural Missouri, to have this organization.
The Riverfront Park just outside my shop window is also a great gathering place for this event. The Eagles always seem to put on a show, fishing and dancing, as hundreds of watchers, watch. There is a fire, hot drinks and information booths. One year over 600 Eagles were counted the weekend of that Eagle days. I hope they come and show off for us again. The conditions are becoming good. Was 12 degree here last night, we have some snow and ice on the ground as well.
I decorated the windows of my antique mall."Downtown Antique Mall", for the event. I'd like to share those windows with you all today. I took pictures of Eagles and went to a photo shop and had them enlarged into poster size. The shop does a great job and the price is not bad. I glued them to foam board, so they are pretty stable. I figure I can use them for years to come, so when you average the price out, that is not to bad. Snow is good for Eagle watching, so I decorated all around the windows and posters with hundreds of hand cut snow flakes. I guess I have reverted to my child hood, as hand cutting snow flakes has been my agenda for the past 2 months. Oh well, at least the price is right.
I wish that you all could come to Clarksville for a visit. See the Eagles, shop my antique mall and tour, My Old Historic House. You are always welcome and I will always leave a light on , besides that, Sissy Dog will meet you with a jump and a kiss. In the mean time, Happy Eagle Watching. Richard
9 comments:
You and your shop are SO READY for Eagle Days. This is one of Clarksville's best events of the year. Clarksville is one of only a few towns in Missouri that have the event, and I think the first (original) location for the Missouri Eagle Days program. I, too, hope for cold weather for the end of January, so we will have a big bald eagle turnout. Thank you, Richard, for getting the info out...hopefully these wonderful birds are getting the memo as well!
Oh how wonderful that you have these majestic creatures so close that you can observe them in the Wild.
Thanks for stopping by for a New Year's Blog Visit my Friend! BTW: I'm loving your Snowflakes... The Grandson is good at Creating them too, it's quite an Art Form.
Blessings from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian
Wow, how lucky are you to get to see these right outside your window! Wish I could come.I really love your windows-so creative of you.
I'd be there in a heartbeat if it was closer Richard! How I'd love to capture some eagles on my camera and visit your antique store and shop. I hope you get lots of shoppers who are also eagle watchers. Pamela
Eagle Days, how nice. When I lived in Savanna, Illinois, I watched eagles soar from my office window. They love the river waters and would hang out on the frozen ice and soar overhead. Magnificent.
Such beauty, Eagles! How wonderful to have a special festival for this great creature. Love all your pics. :)
Oh my, Richard! I would love to be an eagle! Wrote a post some times ago about it.....:)
So, your post lifts up my day!
If I only could be there.....
Thank you for still visiting my blog and your gentle greetings.
And here - all my very best wishes to you for a good, healthy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
May it be filled with inspiration and lots of wonderful antiques and collector pieces and...and...
Warmest greetings from our old house in the Périgord to your Historical one!
Karin
I have heard about the eagle watching from a group of ladies I use to work with at the phone company. They always drove over to Clarksville Missouri for this event. I never knew I would meet the famous Richard Cottrell (Sissy) from Clarksville who owns My Old Historic House & antique mall years later.
The weather is sure cold enough that is true
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