ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Birds of a feather flock together, or in this case for at least one bald eagle at the QCCA Expo Center, there were more than just birds with him.
The 2023 Bald Eagle Days Celebration in Rock Island, saw the national bird, as well as dozens of other birds, animals and insects, celebrated in the annual festival.
The Quad Cities Conservation Alliance helps to put on the event to coincide with when Bald Eagles migrate to the region to feed off the Mississippi River. This way, when people have a greater chance of seeing a Bald Eagle, they'll be more aware of what impact humans have on the species.
That's the hope of many animal educators and wildlife conservation organizations like Incredible Bats.
"If we want to have a good society, we need to have educated people that treat each other and our environment with respect, obviously," Incredible Bats's Dan Peterson said. "So we realized that there are a lot of misconceptions, and just outright lies about animals out there that vilify them and paint them in negative lights, sometimes to the point that makes people want to actually go out and harm those animals."
And for World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist Tayrn Leach, the negative impact humans can have on wildlife is something she's quite familiar with. The ambassador for World Bird Sanctuary is McGuire, a bald eagle who was found in a parking lot begging for food from people when he was younger.
"[So], he was brought to the sanctuary where it was determined he was imprinted on people which essentially means that he doesn't understand that he's a bald eagle," Leach said.
That means McGuire's natural predatory instincts to hunt and animalistic instincts to avoid humans were gone, making him unlikely to survive if he were released back into the wild.
So now, McGuire travels around the country helping people to understand what can happen if humans get too close to non-domesticated species of animals.
"Being able to share that message of conservation to people that don't get to see birds like this every day is one of the best ways to conserve the species," Tayrn added.
The expo also gave the community the chance to get up close and personal with creatures like a Honduran Curly-haired Tarantula, a Flemish Giant Rabbit and a skunk.
"I try to express to people that this is a very rare opportunity for them and for something like a spider, I try to show them that there is nothing to be afraid of," Peterson said.
The City of LeClaire will be holding its first Bald Eagle festival in about two weeks.
More From News 8
Watch more news, weather and sports on News 8's YouTube channel