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Minnesota eagle population is soaring

WABASHA, Minn. - The symbol of freedom and America is the bald eagle. The majestic raptor is now making its annual migration back to the north.

WABASHA, Minn. - The symbol of freedom and America is the bald eagle. The majestic raptor is now making its annual migration back to the north.

"Eagles that will be on their way right now, this is the migration back north. Northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, some of the eagles that we see here during the winter are spending the summer near Hudson Bay Canada. Spend the summer up there raising their families and then coming back here late September and October," said Scott Mehus, Education Coordinator at the National Eagle Center.

Looking for eagles on this sunny day was easy. Eagles were using the south winds to help push them along the Mississippi river to the north. The bald eagles were also taking advantage of thermals, which are rising columns of air caused by differential heating of the earth caused by the sun.

Since the 1960s, the National Eagle Center has been counting the raptors along the Mississippi, and has promising news.

"Between 1968 and 1972, there was just one nesting pair of bald eagles left, that's it. Thankfully now today, once we removed DET from the environment and we helped get protection for the eagle, that same stretch of river has over 313 pairs of nesting pairs of Bald Eagles," said Mehus.

Across Minnesota it is estimated that there are more than 2,300 pairs of nesting eagles, according to the National Eagle Center.

The National Eagle Center has Eagle field trips starting in April. For more information visit their website: National Eagle Center.

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