'Majestic' bald eagles flocking to Detroit River

Windsor birdwatchers hoping to get a glimpse of an iconic bird of prey may want to put the banks of the Detroit River on their list.

The area has seen an influx of bald eagles in recent days, as the birds are drawn to open water in their search for fish.

"We're seeing lots of bald eagles now on the Detroit River because there's very few places for them to be able to find food," said City of Windsor biodiversity co-ordinator Tom Preney. "The Detroit River has still some open water."

Preney said the bald eagles are often spotted in the area of Peche Island at this time of year, and anyone who wants to see the birds themselves should head to the Lakeview Park Marina.

"They really are a majestic bird," he said. "They are a very large bird of prey, and they're just really that iconic species of bird."

And the growth in the Essex County bald eagle population is quite the success story for the species.

The Ontario government states the bald eagle population declined in the past for several reasons, including habitat loss and pesticide use.

However, they're not currently endangered or threatened.

"I remember when I first started working here ... 20 years ago, there was maybe one breeding pair in Essex County," he said. "And now we have up to 15, 20 breeding pairs, maybe even more."

"That's a pretty remarkable comeback."

Wildlife photographer Anthony Minaudo was down on the riverbank Friday capturing some shots of the eagles as they soared through the sky.

"There could be 20 to 40 [in] any given year," Minaudo said. "They come here to kind of like feed, and snatch fish from the ice and stuff like that."

"It's just a good spot for photography," he said. "We had a rare occurrence where they kept coming close and diving, and me and a couple gentlemen kind of photographed them diving and interacting very close."

"It's just kind of a rare thing that you see more in wildlife feature films and stuff, that happened here."