WENDELL, Idaho — For generations, a lone tree between Wendell and Hagerman has served as a winter rest stop for one of America's most iconic birds — dozens of bald eagles gathering in one spectacular location.
I set my alarm before sunrise to see if I could catch them before they took flight for the day.
At around 7 a.m., with sunrise about 30 minutes away, the tree was already full of Eagles.
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The sound wasn't just eagles — smaller birds were also making noise in the area, creating quite a symphony in the pre-dawn hours.
Migratory eagles have made this Hagerman tree part of their annual trip through southern Idaho.
According to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the eagles show up sometime in mid-December and hang out until late February or early March. The spectacle draws folks from around Gooding County and beyond.
"Come out here to look at the eagle, see if they're up in the tree, we'll see how many we can spot," Mark Pelletier said.
Pelletier told me he's made the trip from Mountain Home a couple of times so far and hasn't seen too many eagles during his visits.
"They say it's better at night, but we just wanna come by in the morning to check it out," Pelletier said. "They said there's more down a box canyon, but we just wanted to see if we can catch some perched and maybe some flying around."
By 7:34 AM, the scene had changed dramatically. Only about one eagle remained in the tree as thousands of smaller birds had completely taken over the branches over the previous 10 minutes, creating quite a ruckus.
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The disturbance may have been annoying to the eagles, causing them to take off, or perhaps it was simply breakfast time, and the eagles were flying out to the river to catch fish.
A heads up for visitors: this tree is on private property. However, the parking lot at the nearby West Point Watering Hole offers a good vantage point, and you can grab some food and drinks while you're there.
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