Annual eagle watch draws residents to Mississippi River

FULTON - With winter comes unwanted menaces such as icy roadways and thick blankets of snow. But winter also brings something a little more majestic to the area - the American bald eagle. Hundreds of eager bird watchers huddled onto the observation deck at Lock and Dam 13 on the Mississippi River Saturday to watch nearly 100 bald eagles that descended on the Iowa bank. Some glided gracefully through the air; some sat on the frozen river, waiting to catch a fish; others dotted the trees, waiting to make a move. It was the 25th annual Bald Eagle Watch, and the birds didn't disappoint. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Thomson Park Rangers, in cooperation with Clinton (Iowa) Community College and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, host the ev