Nest N3 – the nest that Mom and DM2 built behind the Walmart in the fall of 2020 – was destroyed when the nest tree fell in the strong storms that rolled across NE Iowa on Saturday night. Based on the debris line and flattened, muddy grass along the upper Iowa behind Walmart, the river was at one point roughly four feet over its current flow level. The discharge in cubic feet per second more than tripled overnight following 4+ inches of rain.
Are Mom and DM2 safe? I saw an eagle perched to the west of N3’s former location yesterday, but it was too far away to identify with my binoculars. We’ll ask our local boots on the ground to watch for them and we’ll be looking for them on camera!
N1, N2B, and Decorah North are still intact and the hatchery and Decorah North eaglets are all accounted for. The storm was strong enough that Iowa’s governor declared six counties a disaster area. This video from N1 shows a few minutes of the storm. Keep in mind that it went on for almost an hour!
The Raptor Resource Project