Sharing the Sky

Elgin's eagles dominate the sky when they soar, but the certainly share the skyline with several other species. The two days I visited, I saw many gulls and some decent sized flocks of geese in the air.

Banks of the Fox

Between sightings of the Elgin eagles, I looked here, there and everywhere. Here we see a boat ramp, frozen in and snowed over, and the Metra rail tracks which flank the river along the west bank.

Streaking and Soaring

Here we see a closer shot of one of the Elgin eagles streaking along the riverbank, looking for an opening for an unsuspecting fish. A bit later, one of the eagles climbs into the sky to soar high above the Fox River.

Monday's Eagles

So a second trip to the Fox River, this one on Monday, produced a bit closer of a look at some eagles in Elgin. Four eagles, as a matter of fact, were along the stretch just north of the dam, two perched in a single tree and two busy soaring.

Here we see an image of the raptor in flight, talons stretched as he looks for some dinner fish. The lower image shows a lot more color as one of the soaring eagles speed along the river bank.

We will look at a few more images in the next few posts.

Eagles on the Fox

A story in Friday's DAILY HERALD sent me out to Elgin on Saturday, along with several dozen others carrying cameras or binoculars, set to see the winter's visiting eagles. A bit of research indicated that the winter eating is best along rivers and near dams where the fish are easier to spot and grab. Alas, the only eagles I saw on the frozen afternoon were a pair soaring high in the blue sky, north of us and not close enough for good detail shots.
A good shoot, though, for the trees and other wildlife, which we will see in the next post. And, hopefully, we will see closeups of eagles on upcoming posts . . . . I am headed back out to Elgin this week!

Elgin Tower

The tallest building right downtown in Elgin is the Art Deco Tower, seen here in two shots of the upper floors. With the evening light coming upon it, it is a solid, majestic building. And then I noticed the fire escape, wondefully forming the intial E, for Elgin. I will assume that was designed into the look of the Tower because if it was not, it was too fortunate to believe.

Elgin Twilight

After a near-sunset shot across the Fox River, I hopped into the car and drove up to Elgin to see the sun set and the lights begin to twinkle in Elgin. Here we see the sun's reflection in the river and, then in Elgin, a ramp into the river just north of the riverboat casino.

The most impressive twilit building in Elgin will be seen in the next post.