All eyes on the sky as eagles soar at annual Newburyport fest

NEWBURYPORT — The 15 or so bald eagles that live along the Merrimack River found themselves the focus of an enthusiastic audience of over 1,000 people Saturday.

Bird enthusiasts and the casual observer alike flocked to Newburyport for the third annual Merrimack River Eagle Festival. The event, presented by Massachusetts Audubon's Joppa Flats Education Center and the Parker River Wildlife Refuge, was sponsored by The Daily News and Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank.

Its focus is to spotlight the return of bald eagles to the river, and to teach people about the importance of maintaining their habitat.

"This is the perfect day, sunny and cool," President of the Chamber of Commerce Ann Ormand said.

"People are just thrilled and we have had great turnout."

Spread across the city were eight locations labeled as good places to see an eagle. At City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce crowds gathered to see rehabilitated caged eagles and board buses to bring them on guided tours.

"You are going to be lucky today," one man yelled to a line waiting to board a tour bus as he exited the previous tour. "You will definitely see an eagle."

And eagles were seen, over 15 in total, about half as many as last year.

"People are going crazy for eagles," naturalist and tour guide Jock Purcell said. "We've seen not only eagles but golden eyes and a variety of ducks."

With watchers lining the Chain Bridge pointing and energetically signalling each spotting, perhaps the best place to view the eagles was at Deer Island and the Spring Lane pumping station where many people came on their own, not part of the official tour group.

Naturalist Debbie Listernick of Joppa Flats said the Spring Lane Pumping Station location was the best spot to see mature eagles.

"It's a great spot because the sun hits the trees and they perch there," Listernick said. "We've had the buses bring a lot of people down, then in between we've had 50 or so on their own come look for eagles."

Listernick and other volunteers set up telescopes positioned at resting eagles.

"We've had four here this morning," Listernick said. "We saw them fly in and look for food then perch."

The eagles in view sat still, almost blending into the trees around them, their heads turning from one side to the other striking the iconic pose.

Tom Powis and his wife Lisa brought their three children along for the experience.

"Last year we had such a good time," Powis of Newbury said. "This year we brought friends with us."

The Powis children wandered on the shores of the river searching for an eagle with their kid sized plastic binoculars. Their youngest daughter Maria was only 17 months and the Powis' were unsure if she really knew what was going on yet.

"It's just a fun family activity and the kids are excited, they are loving it," Tom Powis said.

For Connie Rheda and John Curran of Merrimac, the festival was their first although the two regularly go out birdwatching on the weekends.

"Ever since I saw an eagle I've been hooked," Rheda said. "There is just something about them, I love to see them soar."

Though the eagles at Spring Lane and Deer Island were content resting and conserving their energy in the afternoon before their next meal, during the morning hours an eagle was spotted diving into the river and coming up with a fish.

"My favorite part was seeing the eagle eating the fish while sitting near the bridge," Lily Pierce, 7, of Amesbury said.

For those who needed to warm up after standing in the frosty temperatures there was plenty to do inside.

The Education Center at Joppa Flats was filled to capacity with small children cutting out paper eagle masks and a demonstration of a rehabilitated hawk by Mass Audubon.

"Seeing an eagle is really exciting, they are a special bird because they are clearly identified — kind of the holy grail of bird watching," Melissa Vokey of Massachusetts Audubon Joppa Flats said.

By mid afternoon the center had recorded well over 500 visitors, though volunteers predicted over a thousand by the end of the festival.

"We usually get about 1,500 people a year for the festival," Vokey said, noting she predicts a similar number this year.

Each winter, bald eagles migrate to Newburyport from Maine and the Canadian maritime provinces in search of warmer temperatures and food. Primarily fish-eating scavengers, the eagles also prey on ducks. As the coastal waters and rivers north of Massachusetts freeze over and make it difficult for the bald eagles to feed, they come south to the Merrimack River.

While 10 years ago residents of the Merrimack River were lucky to see just one bald eagle a year, after work to clean up the river the eagles now return in much greater numbers.

Last month during the Massachusetts Wildlife Eagle Count, eight birds were spotted along the Merrimack River.

Crowd in Newburyport

With bird enthusiasts gearing up for this weekend's festival and some traveling from Newburyport, Boston and beyond Vokey says the festival is always a great way to bring families to Newburyport.

"I've heard about people having 'eagle parties,' what a great thing to get the family together and participate in some of the events," she said.

The festival did not just bring eagles to the city but also tourists downtown during a usually slow shopping month.

Before the festival began Ormand was hopeful that more people in the city would mean more sales for local businesses.

"We have had a lot more people than usual," manager of The Grog restaurant William Nichelmann said. "The Eagle Festival has definitely been helpful this time of year."

Steve Grinley, owner of the Bird Watching Supply and Gift shop on the route one traffic circle as well as the Nature Shop at the refuge said the festival is a great way to generate interest in bird watching.

"It's a great thing to have in the community, it benefits everyone," Grinley said.

At the gift shop at the Joppa Flats Education Center store employee Ellen Forbes said the majority of sales had to do with eagles.

"They are buying eagle anything," Forbes said. "T-shirts, books and toys for children."

At Angie's Coffee Shop on Pleasant Street all booths and counter space was taken up though employee Sarah Fontaine said she couldn't say for sure it was because of the festival.

"We are always pretty busy on Saturday plus its school vacation week," Fontaine said.

Though bald eagles were the star of the day, not everyone came to see them. Scott Dubois of Worcester was window shopping downtown.

"I'm not a big bird watcher, I just thought the nice day was a good excuse to come outside in the winter," he said.

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