Eagles Over Monroe, an annual series of events organized by the Department of Natural Resources, will celebrate bald eagles and other birds at Monroe Lake this weekend.
The bald eagle was one of the first endangered species nationwide to be federally protected by the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Between 1985-89, the DNR raised and released 73 eaglets from Wisconsin and Alaska at Monroe Lake to rebuild the local breeding population. This initiative led to the first successful bald eagle nest in Indiana in 1991, nearly a whole century since the last one in 1897.
Jill Vance, an interpretive naturalist at Monroe Lake since 2011 and IU alumna, organizes Eagles Over Monroe every year for the DNR.
She said historically, Indiana's eagles had been in the northern part of the state and the Grand Kankakee wetlands outside Chicago. After those habitats were eliminated due to dredging since 1854, the eagles went away.
Vance said the reintroduction of eagles in Indiana in 1985 was prompted by the creation of large reservoirs in the southern part of the state, which gave rise to huge backwater areas suitable for eagle habitation. She said they were raised in a special “hacking tower” where they were nested until adolescence.
Eagles imprint the site of their first flight as their home where they eventually return to nest after several years of adulthood, Vance said.
“There weren't any eagles taking their first flights here that would then be drawn back when it was time to nest,” Vance said. “So, (the DNR) started releasing eagles here at Monroe Lake, and eventually they started coming back here to nest. And those were the seeds of the restoration of the bald eagles in Indiana. Since that time, they've kind of hopscotched out from Monroe as the starting point.”
She said Eagles Over Monroe is a rebirth of an event that ran for a while in the 1990s and 2000s, back when it was called Eagle Watch Weekends.
Vance said when she started working at Monroe Lake, the event was being run by a private individual who eventually dropped it a couple of years later. Vance thereby revived the initiative in 2017 and dubbed it Eagles Over Monroe.
“People still love bald eagles,” Vance said. “This is a huge part of our story, our legacy here at Monroe.”
She said Monroe Lake has about 12 to 16 active nests for bald eagles all year round but during the winter months, the local population can potentially triple as birds from the northern areas migrate south due to warmer temperatures.
She said that there were more eagles to see and that they were easier to spot because the leaves were out, and eagles spent about 90% of their time perching. She mentioned that anywhere from December through the end of February was a great time for eagle watching at the lake.
Vance said the eagle population has been steady over the last couple of years, but she has noticed through monitoring, that eagles are growing more accustomed to human activity and being less startled by it.
“It used to be that if you walked near an eagle nest, the eagles would abandon it,” she said. “They'd leave eggs, the eggs would go cold. If the chicks were just born, they would even abandon chicks. And so, we saw nests built around the lake tended to be in the backwater areas with very little human activity. That has changed a lot in the last decade or so.”
Vance said she always revamps the schedule, retaining some standard programs like the sunset eagle watches and the self-guided tour, while changing many individual ones each year to encourage repeat visits.
Eagles Over Monroe has some programs featuring other birds such as barn owls and raptors. She said the event helps raise awareness about conservation by encouraging people to appreciate not only bald eagles but other birds as well.
"You can't care about what you don't know about,” she said. “So, we would like for people to know more about these birds and other birds around the lake, develop a connection with them because that's how we preserve a habitat for these animals to live as people care about them.”
The presenters and birds for the live bald eagle shows at Eagles Over Monroe are sponsored by the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Bloomington. The proceeds from the shows support the Hardy Lake raptor rehabilitation center.
The Sassafras Audubon Society, Bloomington’s chapter of the Indiana Audobon Society, sponsors the live raptor shows featuring hawks, owls, falcons and other predatory birds.
Vance said for those looking to spot eagles, event staff are great resources, often allowing visitors to look through their scopes for a chance to see one. She recommended visiting within two hours after sunrise or before the sunset, when eagles are most active.
Vance emphasized that visitors should never approach a nest. She also stressed the importance of respecting both the birds and the environment, urging visitors to clean up after themselves and minimize disruptions to wildlife.
“We want our eagles to keep coming back,” she said. “I love it when people come here to sit and eat their lunch while watching birds, and that's awesome.”
Eagles Over Monroe offers a plethora of programs over the weekend with most of them requiring prior registration. This year’s Eagles Over Monroe is set to take place Feb. 7-9 and the full schedule can be found here.
