DeGray's Eagle Cruises Start Before Halloween This Year. Here's Bismarck's November on the Water.

The first guided Eagle Watch Tour of the season leaves the DeGray Lake Resort State Park marina tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 30, at 2 p.m. The last one on the fall calendar leaves Sunday, Nov. 29. After that, the Arkansas State Parks calendar shows no Eagle Watch departures until the Eagles Et Cetera Festival on Jan. 22–24, 2027.

That puts most of DeGray's guided eagle season in November, at the park entrance a short drive from Bismarck at 2027 State Park Entrance Road. November has weekday departures, weekend departures and a cruise on Thanksgiving Day. The festival is one weekend in a month when the weather is harder to plan around.

A month of departures, laid out

The Arkansas State Parks events calendar for DeGray lists these dates and times for the hour-long cruise and the programs around it.

Third-party event feeds have listed some of these departures at slightly different times, so confirm the time when you call to reserve. The Dutch oven workshop appears in the park's listings carried on the Arkansas Serve feed.

On each tour, a park interpreter takes the boat out for an hour to look for wintering bald eagles. Ospreys, loons, herons, grebes and ducks are on the list too. Two items in the table stay on land, the Oct. 31 Dutch oven workshop at Pavilion 1 and the Nov. 23 Owl Prowl Night Hike.

Thanksgiving week holds the most programs

Early November sticks to weekends, with a morning and an afternoon departure on most Saturdays and Sundays. Around the holiday, the schedule moves into weekdays. From Monday, Nov. 23, through Friday, Nov. 27, the park has an Eagle Watch Tour every day except Tuesday. Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, is included.

The same days carry the Sunset Cruise, which runs 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 23, 25, 26 and 27. The park's description talks about the lake's history, its wildlife, rock outcrops and islands. On Monday the 23rd, the Owl Prowl Night Hike follows from 6 to 6:45 p.m. An interpreter leads the group into the woods to call and listen for owls, and the park asks hikers to bring a flashlight.

That makes Thanksgiving week the easiest time to fit several programs into a single afternoon. Book a 2 p.m. eagle cruise and a 4:15 sunset cruise on the same day and you get two very different hours on the water, about an hour apart. For a household with visitors in town, a lake trip on the Wednesday or Friday after Thanksgiving uses the park's busiest stretch of the fall.

Getting a seat takes a phone call the day before

None of these programs can be booked weeks out. Reservations open at noon the day before. The two Arkansas State Parks pages for the Eagle Watch Tour give different instructions. One sends you to the marina at (501) 865-5841. The other sends you to the lodge front desk at (501) 865-5851, where you pay and get a receipt to take down to the marina. The Sunset Cruise page uses the lodge method, with payment at the lodge and the receipt carried to the marina. If one line doesn't have your answer, try the other.

The current tour pages don't list a price. At the January 2026 festival, Eagle Watch tickets were $14 for adults, $8 for children 6 to 12 and free for children under 6, as reported by KATV. Those were festival prices, so ask about November pricing when you call.

The park's other instructions are practical. Plan to get to the marina 10 to 15 minutes early so the boat can leave on time. Bring binoculars if you have them, since the park keeps only a few loaners. Dress in layers, because the park warns it is normally chillier and windier on the lake than on land. A sunny Bismarck afternoon in late November can feel very different once the boat is out on open water.

The shore stays open after the boats stop

When the guided cruises end Nov. 29, the eagles don't go with them. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission calls winter a prime time to view bald eagles. It says migrating eagles follow waterfowl south and names DeGray as one of the state's well-known eagle-watching spots. The same piece describes eagles using DeGray's shoreline trees as perches.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers runs the public land around the lake. Its DeGray Lake page lists Lower Lake, Caddo Drive, Arlie Moore and Highway 7 as day-use areas. It also lists a beach at Caddo Drive and boat ramps at Iron Mountain and Spillway. None of these is an official eagle-viewing station. They are public places to stand at the water with binoculars. The Corps describes the 400-acre Lower Lake as a waterfowl refuge. Arlie Moore is the only Corps campground open from Dec. 1 through Feb. 28. The Corps page has no publication date, so call the project office before a December or January trip to check winter access.

One January weekend limits the shore near Lower Lake. AGFC's DeGray Lake WMA page says access to the Lower DeGray Lake Waterfowl Rest Area is limited to mobility-impaired permit holders during a hunt on Jan. 9–10. Permit questions go to 870-246-5501.

January's festival is one weekend, and January weather decides it

The Eagles Et Cetera Festival returns Jan. 22–24, 2027. The Arkansas.com listing describes conservation-focused excursions and live birds-of-prey shows at DeGray Lodge. The state's Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism event page says more details will be posted "in the coming months." The 2027 program and ticket prices haven't been posted yet.

Last year's lineup shows what usually fills that weekend. The Arkadelphian described Eagle Watch and Owl Prowl tours, Golf Course Safaris, Live Falconry Hunts, birds-of-prey presentations, conservation talks, and crafts for kids in the Eaglets Activity Room. KATV listed Rodny Paul of Raptor Rehab of Central Arkansas and master falconer Rusty Scarborough among the speakers. It also reported that registration for every tour opened the Monday before the festival.

The 2026 festival was set for Jan. 23–25. On Jan. 22, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reported a forecast of up to 4 inches of sleet for Garland County that weekend. A three-day event in late January depends on whatever forecast that weekend brings. The November schedule spreads its cruises over a whole month, so one bad Saturday costs you a single date, and the next weekend's departures are still on the calendar.

The festival is still worth marking for Jan. 22–24. For anyone who lives a short drive from the marina, the November dates in the table give more room to work around the weather. Pick a day, call at noon the day before, and dress for wind.

Our team spends a lot of time on the land and water around DeGray. If a cruise this month has you curious about the shoreline around Bismarck from the land side, from public access areas to what's around the lake, the folks at Bluebird Real Estate are happy to talk it over. Contact Us.