DEEP COLD BRINGS BALD EAGLES SOUTH; ICE FLOES SEEM LIKE GOOD PLACES FOR FISHING

The eagles have landed.

With the Midwest in a lengthening deep freeze, a relative profusion of migrating bald eagles has stopped at Cape Rock, Trail of Tears State Park and other points along the Mississippi River to feed and rest. Horseshoe Lake in Southern Illinois is another good location for seeing the once endangered national symbol.

Cape Rock is a prime viewing spot not only for its promontory but because the eagles hang out on the sand bar exposed when the river is low. "I think they're sitting there conserving energy," says Dr. Bill Eddleman, an ornithologist at Southeast Missouri State University.

Some eagles have been seen cruising down the river on ice floes. Locks and dams also are good places to see them because the water running through dam helps keep the water below open.

Eagles eat fish and injured or dead water fowl. As northern waters freeze they head south from their nesting areas in Canada and near the Great Lakes in search of open water. Their migration coincides with that of hundreds of thousands of geese currently in Southern Illinois. Eagles congregate at water fowl refuges.

In Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois they have their choice of fish or fowl.

"They're opportunistic. It's whatever is easiest to get at the time," says Eddleman. He saw three eagles in Neelyville Friday and estimates several hundred may be in the state now.

During the Christmas bird count at Big Oak State Park near East Prairie, Audubon Society volunteers spotted 11 bald eagles.

The highest count of eagles ever recorded in the state was 1,449 in 1989.

Bald and golden eagles are the two species found in America. About 95 percent of the eagles seen in Missouri are bald eagles, so called because of their white heads. Because bald eagles are difficult to get near, binoculars usually are needed to see one well.

"If you walk out to the overlooks on the bluffs at Trail of Tears sometimes they will fly out," Eddleman said.

Forty years ago, bald eagles were threatened with extinction and no nesting pairs were known in the state. This year, 64 nests were counted in Missouri, 48 of which were productive. About 100 chicks were born this year.

Banning the pesticide DDT in 1972, more protection of habitat and reintroduction of eagles bred in captivity has brought the eagle population back, says Simon Davies, director of development at the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis.

Active breeding populations currently are found in 49 of the 50 states, Hawaii being the exception.

The state Department of Conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo., released 74 young bald eagles raised in artificial nests into the wild between 1981 and 1990. Because they were imprinted with this region, they return here every year. Some remain year-round.

The DOC has been monitoring the program's success since 1990. "They've really come back well," says Kathy Cavender, manager of the Runge Conservation Nature Center in Jefferson City, Mo.,

Humans remain the primary threat to eagles. They can be poisoned by feeding on waterfowl that have eaten the lead pellets once used in shotgun shells. They sometimes collide with manmade objects and sometimes are directly victimized. The World Bird Sanctuary currently is trying to nurse back to health a golden eagle shot in the state.