One of the great joys of winter in Colorado is an increase in appearances of bald eagles.  The national bird of the United States is majestic to see and here in Thornton the birds routinely roost during the cold months.

Bald eagles can be found virtually anywhere in the United States and while Benjamin Franklin would have preferred the turkey, eagles won the right to become one of our nation’s most important symbols.

Here in Colorado there are some year-round nesting pairs, most notably for those in the north Denver metro area are some at Barr Lake.  More common are eagles that come to Colorado seasonally and then return north when we start to warm up in the spring.

In recent years we have admired a number of these great birds on the South Platte River Greenway Trail between Colorado Blvd and McKay Road.

This year as many as four have been spotted in the area.  While they don’t appear to have nested in the area, they do roost daily along the river.

Yesterday we went for a bike ride and were able to spot one of the eagles as well as a hawk, ducks and the ever-present geese.  The slideshow below shows you some of the images we captured.