Soaring Eagle Numbers Mysterious

Just when it seemed the annual winter bald eagle count was going to stall at Lake Coeur d’Alene, the number soared to 217 eagles on Monda y, Carrie Hugo, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist, can’t peg the exact reason the eagles came so much later than usual for their feast of spawning kokanee in the Wolf Lodge Bay area of the lake.  From mid-November through mid-December, about half the number of eagles had shown up compared with counts in recent years. At the end of December, the eagle gathering usually starts to thin out as the spawn subsides and ice covers more water. This season, the numbers increased and the biggest gathering of eagles of the year is at the lake this week/ Rich Landers , Outdoors. More here.

Thoughts?