Bald eagles have passed the word: Hunting and fishing are excellent on the Snake River from the South Fork to American Falls Reservoir. Bald eagles from as far away as Canada and Montana are sharing hunting and fishing spots and perches along the Snake River.

One of Fish and Game's jobs is to count the concentration of wintering eagles for the national survey conducted in January. Information gathered on the flight provides a small piece of an intricate puzzle of what is happening to bald eagles.

This year, biologists counted 108 bald eagles from Idaho Falls to Massacre Rocks State Park along the Snake River. Over all, bald eagles have done well. State wide a record 925 wintering birds were recorded in 1994, up from 404 surveyed in 1979. Better yet, bald eagles successfully nesting in Idaho has dramatically increased since surveys started in 1979; in 1979 only 11 nesting territories were occupied with eight being successful. In 2003 there were 147 occupied territories, with 103 being successful.

Three spots in Idaho hold the majority of bald eagles: Northern Idaho, Adams and Washington counties and the Idaho Falls-Pocatello area along the Snake River.

Migrating eagles are drawn to eastern Idaho and the Snake River to hunt ducks, geese, suckers and whitefish. Eagles watch from perches or cruise in effortless flight, looking for ducks or geese that are weak or crippled. Spotting a likely meal they swoop in trying to flush the bird off the water or ice.

Healthy ducks and geese scatter to the wind when hunting eagles get close. The crippled or weak birds try to dive or half fly and run to flooded willows for cover. Few cripples escape the eagle's talons.

Looking down, we watched two eagles sitting on the ice not 100 yards from a mass of mallards. A third eagle flew directly over the ducks, and pandemonium broke loose. The sitting eagles homed in on a crippled duck that didn't leave with the rest. The chase was swift - a few twists and turns and the crippled mallard was caught and killed.

Benjamin Franklin called eagles disreputable

"A thief, a scavenger, a bird unfit to be our nation's symbol," was how Benjamin Franklin described the bald eagle in the debate over the national symbol. Franklin favored the wild turkey.

The bald eagle won out, and now we don't have a national bird traditionally eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.

Bald eagles faced a troubled future in the new nation. Populations declines were traced to the widespread use of DDT, which caused egg-shell thinning, and bald eagles ended up on the Endangered Species List. Once on the verge of extinction in the lower contiguous 48 states, bald eagles have made a dramatic comeback. They were recently down listed from endangered to threatened.

They are travelers and opportunists. Tag returns show some eagles migrate from Canada to Texas, dining along the way on the most available fish or fowl. Eagles eating ducks and white fish along the Snake River today may be cruising fields for stranded rodents or eating on a road killed deer carcass tomorrow in Utah. If cold weather moves waterfowl southward, so go some of the eagles.

Where to eagle watch

The Henrys Fork of the Snake River all the way down to the Fish and Game Access area near Tilden Bridge are good places to spot eagles. Several access sites are located on the north side of the Snake River below Blackfoot. Eagles perch and cruise up and down this section of the Snake River. Eagles are currently congregated along the south side of the reservoir where the Portneuf River flows in and on the east side of the reservoir where the Snake River flows in.

Wolf Lodge Bay on Coeur d' Alene Lake is one of the best places in the state to watch eagles. The annual kokanee salmon run congregates thousands of spawning 14-20 inch salmon for the eagles to feed on. Tour boats are available for a fee.