Despite the cold weather — and also because of it — thousands of people are grabbing their binoculars this winter and heading out to find bald eagles in Illinois.
Chances are better than ever they'll see scenes like the one Thursday near Starved Rock State Park — bald eagles, five or six at a time, swooping over the lock and dam on the Illinois River and then dropping into the icy water to grab fish. In trees along the shoreline, more birds were roosting.
Illinois once offered only a few rare glimpses of what was then a vanishing national symbol, but now the state has become second to Alaska in the U.S. in wintering bald eagle population, experts say. And this year's frigid conditions, combined with the steadily growing population of eagles throughout North America, are bringing the birds into Illinois in greater numbers....
