On the Monday before Christmas 2025, Bureau of Land Management staff set up high-powered spotting scopes at the Mineral Ridge boat launch. Families from around Coeur d'Alene drove out to look for bald eagles, as they had for years. Most of the eagles were already gone.
The Coeur d'Alene Press reported that the migration had already peaked. Mineral Ridge is usually a great spot in late December, and that December it wasn't. BLM's own weekly count shows how far off the timing was. Its Dec. 19, 2025 survey found 20 eagles, 12 adults and 8 juveniles. Three weeks earlier, on Nov. 26, the same route had 294.
That wasn't a fluke. In each of the last three seasons the peak has come earlier than the year before. The eagles are following the kokanee, and the kokanee set their own schedule.
Three Seasons, Three Different Peaks
BLM has counted bald eagles around Wolf Lodge Bay since 1974 and posts each weekly count on its Lake Coeur d'Alene Eagle Watch page. Here are the last three seasons side by side. The far-right column is the count taken closest to the week before Christmas, when a lot of families plan the trip.
| Season | Peak count date | Peak count | Count nearest Dec. 20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023–24 | Dec. 20, 2023 | 409, the record | 409 on Dec. 20 |
| 2024–25 | Dec. 12, 2024 | 284 | 191 on Dec. 19 |
| 2025–26 | Nov. 26, 2025 | 294 | 20 on Dec. 19 |
The 2023 record day had 363 adults and 46 juveniles on the route. Two years later, someone going on the same date would have seen almost none of them. The size of the peak held fairly steady across the last two seasons, at 284 and 294. What moved was the date, by more than two weeks.
The Fish Set the Date
The eagles come to Lake Coeur d'Alene for spawning kokanee, and they arrive and leave on the kokanee's schedule. BLM describes the migration window as November through February. According to the Press, Coeur d'Alene eagle numbers normally peak in late December, and the peak usually lines up with peak spawning.
In 2025 the spawn came early. BLM wildlife biologist Carrie Hugo described what she saw on the lake that season to the Coeur d'Alene Press:
"Anecdotally, I have noticed the kokanee are much bigger this year but there aren't as many of them. When there's more competition for fewer fish, some of the eagles tend to leave."
Idaho Fish and Game saw the same pattern. The agency didn't run a trawl to estimate kokanee abundance that year, but its biologists noted bigger, fewer fish. T.J. Ross, IDFG's regional communications manager, told the Press it appeared "the kokanees spawned a little earlier than they normally would."
Hugo also said the thin December wasn't a sign of trouble. "No one should be worried about there not being as many eagles this year," she told the paper. "They're responding to the kokanee. Bald eagles are doing well." She added that the local numbers track national bald eagle populations, which are going up.
The birds are only stopping over. According to the Press, most of them come from interior British Columbia and move on to places like the Snake River Plain in southern Idaho and the Klamath Basin in Oregon and California. When the fish here thin out, the eagles have somewhere else to go.
What the Lake Is Showing This Fall
No one has posted a forecast for the 2026–27 season, and the fish haven't offered one either. Here is what's known going into November.
As of mid-October, BLM's count page still listed the 2025–26 season, and its newest entry was Dec. 19, 2025. The first counts of recent seasons came in mid-November, on Nov. 13, 2024 with 79 eagles and Nov. 14, 2025 with 100.
On the water, Alan Liere's Oct. 1, 2026 fishing report in the Spokesman-Review said Coeur d'Alene Lake kokanee are turning red. Kokanee change color as they move toward spawning, so the lake is already heading into the stretch the eagles wait for. Whether the peak lands in late November again, in mid-December, or back in late December depends on how this year's spawn plays out. No one can tell that from the calendar.
How to Time the Trip
Go by what BLM is seeing each week, starting in mid-November.
- Watch the weekly count. BLM biologists count eagles each week of the migration along the same 12-mile route, with about a dozen stops. The route starts on Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive, follows the north shore to Higgens Point, then continues to Wolf Lodge and Beauty Bay. BLM marks the counts as weather dependent, and the 2024 season skipped a week because of weather.
- Look at the trend. In 2025 the count went from 100 to 148 to 294 in about two weeks, then dropped to 157. Once two counts in a row are climbing, the good viewing days are probably close. Hugo has said the count isn't exact and that she inevitably double-counts some birds and misses others. It works best as a sign of whether numbers are going up or down.
- Call before you drive. BLM runs an Eagle Watch Hotline at 208-769-5029 for daily watch activity.
The staffed BLM Eagle Watch, with free spotting scopes and educational materials, ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Mineral Ridge boat launch parking area in 2025. That was its 35th year. BLM hasn't posted dates for 2026 yet, so the hotline is the best way to find out when staff will be out.
Where to Stand
BLM suggests three viewing spots, all on the north and east side of the lake.
- Higgens Point sits at the end of Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive, about six miles east of town, where the 23-mile North Idaho Centennial Trail ends. It's the closest of the three to downtown and one of the stops on BLM's count route.
- Mineral Ridge Boat Launch is on the south side of Wolf Lodge Bay, one mile south of I-90 Exit 22 on Highway 97. BLM's page lists a concrete ramp, docks, asphalt parking, and a $12 daily fee or $80 annual pass.
- Mineral Ridge Trailhead is about three miles south of Exit 22 on Highway 97. It's the start of the 3.3-mile Mineral Ridge National Recreation Trail, with paved parking, two shelters, a picnic area, pit toilets and drinking water.
BLM's viewing rules matter here because the birds sit right beside busy roads. Don't approach eagles on foot. Stay in your vehicle if birds are nearby, and park off the main road. I-90 and Highway 97 carry heavy traffic, it's illegal to stop in a traffic lane, and BLM asks drivers not to look for eagles while driving. Binoculars are essential.
From the Water
Lake Coeur d'Alene Cruises runs two-hour Eagle Watching Cruises from Boardwalk Marina to Wolf Lodge Bay on select dates from Nov. 20, 2026 through Jan. 3, 2027. Cruises leave at noon, with boarding at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $29 for adults 18 to 54, $27.50 for seniors 55 and up, and $23 for youth 6 to 17. Children 5 and under ride free.
The sailing dates are set months ahead, so they can't follow the spawn the way the weekly count does. Last season's peak, Nov. 26, fell within a week of where this season's cruise calendar starts. If you're booking for out-of-town family, check the BLM counts as November goes on before you pick a date.
The Stop on the Way Back
For years, an eagle trip to Wolf Lodge Bay often ended with dinner at the Wolf Lodge Steakhouse near Exit 22. The restaurant was destroyed in a fire on Labor Day 2024. In an April 17, 2026 story in the Coeur d'Alene Press, general manager Nicole Martel and assistant manager Shawn Martel said they were working toward rebuilding. "We want people to know we are working toward it," Nicole Martel said. "We're not there, but we are moving in that direction." For now, plan to eat back in town after your trip. If they announce a reopening, it'll be news worth sharing.
The first BLM count of the season usually comes in mid-November. Check that number before you plan the trip.
Donnie and Amy Wilkins at ExSell Realty Group have lived through a lot of North Idaho winters, and Wolf Lodge Bay is one of the good parts. If friends or family are thinking about a move here and want to see what a Coeur d'Alene winter is really like, we're happy to talk it through. If you're a homeowner wondering what your place is worth before spring, ask us for a free home valuation.
