Gotta be the temperatures. At least that’s the speculation of Mike Ostrander, catfish, history and eagle tour guide, in his most recent blog post. Here’s an excerpt:

Today is the beginning of the New Year, 2012. I have to say a long morning on the James River, watching bald eagles is a pretty good start. One thing comes to mind after today’s journey on the river. The sheer difference in numbers of eagles this year versus last year in Jefferson’s Reach…The reason is pretty clear, I believe, and it’s temperature. Last year, the end of December was much colder. Today and yesterday were days where the high temps were in the 60’s! That’s amazingly warm for this time of year. The colder the weather, the more eagles we have in the area, as the cold air drives the migratory eagles further south into our area.

Ostrander’s blog features a number of great eagle pictures. If you’re a birder or just a general nature lover, his web site should be on your favorites list.