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Other stories in "Fall"

• This weekend
  See elves, artists and Irish dancers.
• Next weekend
  Elves, artists and Irish dancers are hard at work during holidays.
• Remember the wrecks
  On Lake Superior, gales of November bring haunting memories.
• Welcome, Southwest
  Finally, low-cost air fares to Chicago have returned.
• All quiet up north
  Like the leaves, room rates have dropped.
• Join the fun
  With an outdoors club, make friends, see new places and save money.
• Homes for the holidays
  On tours, see where the rich and famous celebrated Christmas.
• Culture in the bluffs
  Follow musicians to four unusual venues near the Mississippi.
• Ghouls ahoy
  On Great Lakes, two haunted ships are spoiling for a fright.
• Bash on a bike trail
  Kick up your wheels at small-town fall festivals.
• Scenery in the studios
  On autumn art tours, treasure hunters strike gold (and orange and red).
• Closing the deal
  Believe it or not, it's time to reserve hot dates for 2009.
• Ely's blue over hues
  Act now to keep town's future bright.
• Eyes on the skies
  On bluffs and ridges, it's time to watch the hawk migration.
• Price check/A northwoods weekend
  Two Minnesota B&Bs offer a Boundary Waters adventure — is it a deal?
• On the ropes in Lanesboro
  Try walking a high wire on Halloween.
• In Iowa, a singular inn reopens
  Through December, snag a $99 room at the Hotel Pattee.
• Hunters on the North Shore
  A special deer season this weekend may put guns close to hikers.
• Geocaching for beginners
  Try a fall treasure hunt.
• Hot tip/A different North Shore
  Didn't reserve for fall-color season? Thunder Bay has rooms.
• On the road/A fall drive along the St. Croix
  A stretch of river valley is packed with attractions.
• 10 great trails to ride in fall
  Here's where to get your fill of flora, fauna and fall colors.
• Go on a trail-clearing trip
  If you enjoy a hike, help make it possible for others.
• In river towns, favorites debut anew
  On the Red Cedar and in Red Wing, three inns and restaurants finally reopen.
• Home of horsepower
  In Wisconsin, see where race cars, snowmobiles, outboards and motorcycles were born.
• Go swan watching
  

Big birds

Eagles are flocking to a stretch of river best known for tundra swans.

In the natural world, misfortune for some means opportunity for others.

No bird is more opportunistic than a bald eagle, and that's why a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist last week spotted 500 of them on the Mississippi River between Trempealeau, Wis., and Brownsville, Minn., feasting on scaup and coots dying from snail-borne parasites.

That stretch also has become the place to see thousands of migrating tundra swans. Rieck's Lake in Alma, Wis. (pictured), across from Wabasha, is the traditional bird-watcher's hot spot, and many swans still stop there, but more now are feeding and resting in the backwaters off Brownsville and Reno, Minn.

There's a new observation deck three miles south of Brownsville off Minnesota 26, with spotting scopes and an interpretive kiosk. There's a second overlook two miles farther south, and a third on the Reno Bottoms. Brownsville will be one of the stops on the annual Swan Watch bus tour out of Winona, Nov. 15. Cost is $20, including lunch; reserve with the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, 507-452-4232.

For more about tundra swans, see Wings over Alma. And later this month, trumpeter swans will be returning to their winter spa farther up the Mississippi in Monticello, Minn., where up to 1,600 swans can be seen in one place. For more, see Snow birds.

Last updated on November 6, 2008