Motorists on an Iowa highway brake suddenly to gawk when two bald eagles land in the frosty corn stubble of a farm field.
On a lake in Wisconsin, startled ice fishermen watch one of the snowy-headed birds swoop talons-first onto the frozen surface to scoop up bait minnows abandoned on the ice.
And in Guttenberg, an old town of limestone buildings tucked beneath the Mississippi River bluffs, diners at a restaurant can barely keep their eyes off the view from the windows where 50 or more of the majestic birds wheel above the water, roost in trees or circle open water below as they search for food.
Not only is the once-threatened bald eagle back, it has become a big tourist attraction in many parts of America's lower 48 states, from coastal Southern California to Florida and up to Chesapeake Bay and Hudson Valley.
Some of the best close-up eagle watching is in mid-winter along the Mississippi River, from St Paul, Minnesota, downstream to the southern tip of Illinois.
The cold drives visiting birds south from Canada where they join local populations near open water hunting for food. The Mississippi's lock and dam system provides enough churning to keep large stretches of the big river ice free.
The raptor's remarkable history -- from a bird so common it became the national symbol in the 18th century to its near extinction in the lower 48 states and now its near recovery
-- is enough to draw crowds. But the bird itself, with white head and tail and 1.8m wingspan and the only eagle unique to North America, would be a star anyway.
According to John Bianchi of the Audubon Society, there were 5,748 breeding pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states in 1998 -- compared to a low point of fewer than 500 pairs in 1973.
Today's lower-48 population, including breeding pairs and those not yet breeding may number around 20,000 birds, Bianchi thinks. The bird has re-established itself in all of the lower 48 except for Vermont and Rhode Island, according to government estimates.
Ohio this year counted a record 352 eagles in 81 counties, compared to only 193 in 2000 and just six in 1979. Spots along the Lake Erie waterfront are prime eagle-watching venues.
In Canada and Alaska, where the birds did not suffer the decline seen farther south, eagle watching has always been an attraction.
Until 1952 there was a bounty on the eagles in Alaska, where they were considered a threat to salmon and livestock. Their decline began in colonial times as people moving west encroached on previous breeding grounds. The use of DDT interfered with the strength of egg shells in breeding, causing a further reduction in numbers in the 1950s and 1960s.
Government protection, reintroductions, a 1972 ban on DDT and an end to lead shot for hunting beginning in 1991 that removed another danger from the food chain all helped bring the eagle back. The bird is now considered "endangered" instead of "threatened" as it once was.
"What's amazing is that people never get tired of talking about bald eagles, exchanging stories and going out to view them," said Jody Millar, bald eagle coordinator for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the Davenport, Iowa, area.
She also says that bird watchers should not expect to see continued increases in numbers of eagles each year because they will eventually reach a level where their population is sustainable and level.
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