{"id":399746,"date":"2026-01-10T19:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T19:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/399746\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T19:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T19:19:12","slug":"1012-bald-eagles-descend-on-missouri-refuge-shattering-the-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/399746\/","title":{"rendered":"1,012 bald eagles descend on Missouri refuge, shattering the record"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"AccuWeather.com\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"632\" height=\"421\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cae72abd7f061249767e68ba024ba653.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A bald eagle surveys the landscape at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, near Mound City, Mo. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A record-setting wave of bald eagles descended on a small area of northwestern Missouri right before the start of 2026, drawing in visitors from across the region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We have a new bald eagle record!&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LoessBluffsNWR\/posts\/1323663499796464\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge<\/a> said after conducting a bird survey on Dec. 30, 2025. &#8220;1,012 bald eagles were observed on the refuge during the survey. The previous record from January 3, 2022, was 833 eagles.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A survey conducted earlier this week also tallied over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/2026-01\/loess_bluffs_waterfowl_survey_20260106.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:20,000 snow geese;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">20,000 snow geese<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"AccuWeather.com\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"632\" height=\"421\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/980d428aa453bed66d22471f9442d5e8.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A bald eagle surveys the landscape at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, near Mound City, Mo. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge is a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/loess-bluffs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:birders paradise;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">birders paradise<\/a>&#8221; in northwestern Missouri. The 7,440-acre refuge is a mix of wetlands, grasslands and forest &#8212; habitat that makes it a major stop for migratory birds and local wildlife alike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Loess Bluffs has also been named one of America&#8217;s top 500 Globally Important Bird Areas by the National Audubon Society.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Abundant populations of trumpeter swans, bald eagles, songbirds, shorebirds, waterfowl, deer, coyote, snakes and hundreds of other species utilize the wetland, forest and grassland habitats on the refuge,&#8221; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife &amp; Wildlife Service said on its website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The refuge was established in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and is one of several wildlife refuges across Missouri that help support bird populations along major migration routes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bald eagle surveys the landscape at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, near Mound&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[7501,190994,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-399746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-bald-eagle","9":"tag-loess-bluffs","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}