Celebrating Dad Decorah

Written by John Howe

First – I’d like to announce that we have designed a commemorative shirt in honor of Dad Decorah. You can take a look at this link:https://www.bonfire.com/decorah-dad/

We hope you like it as much as we do and wear it with pride and in honor of a bald eagle that has touched the hearts and minds of so many. Dad Decorah is pictured on the shirt with D29, D30, and D31 – his last offspring in the cottonwood.

We lost Dad Decorah, our “Educator-In-Chief” in April. For over 10 years, he has served as the subject of enjoyment, education, and wonder for millions of people, while being an eagle partner to Mom Decorah and Dad to at least 31 eaglets.

Moving on without Dad Decorah has felt a bit like being on a rollercoaster – on one hand he is sorely missed, on the other hand, we have had the opportunity to experience the wonder of Mom’s SUPER performance in his absence. There are so many cherished pictures and videos of him with Mom and his young that it is hard to decide where to start and what to share in his memory.

It seems like a difficult task to do justice to the memory of Dad Decorah and the impact he has made. Thank you to all that have offered beautiful “Dad” tributes over the past months. We will be showing some of them at our After The Fledge (ATF) gathering coming up here in late July. Thank you to our eagle photographers and videographers that have helped preserve his memory and legacy over the years.

First launched in 2009, the Decorah Eagle cam is the most watched live stream of all time, with nearly 400 million views since 2011. Watchers around the world have fallen in love with the Decorah Eagle family and the daily struggles and rewards of life in an Iowa Bald Eagle’s nest. I feel, as I’m sure most of you do, that we are privileged to have become part of this eagle family…well as much as we can as humans. They do indeed seem like family!

Our founder Bob Anderson pioneered the use of online bird cams in 1998. Since then our raptor cams and raptor education program has grown. 100% of the funds raised through the sale of these T-shirts will go to offset the costs of our Birdcam and Bird of Prey monitoring and management program. Your support allows us to continue this raptor education program that touches so many – thanks for being part of the family!