We are very sorry to announce that the Decorah North Nest fell last night during a storm. We visited the nest today to assess the damage and look for Mr. and Mrs. North. Somewhat to our surprise, there were no freshly broken branches or limbs at the base of the tree or beneath the fallen nest. Given the high wind gusts and lashing rain that accompanied last night’s storm, we think that the wind blew the nest’s supporting branches off-kilter. The nest, which was heavily laden with water and slippery wet, plunged down between them. Once the nest started sliding, it was all over.
We’ve been asked if we’re going to build a starter nest for Mr. and Mrs. North. The DNN tree is a little tougher to work in than N2B, since the nest was cradled in branches at the side of the tree instead of built into a secure crotch. We are weighing our options and will be making another visit to assess the situation once our camera work on Lake Onalaska is done. We will advise of any options or plans once the tree is evaluated and our climbing experts and Board of Directors have a determination of how to proceed.
We did not find Mr. and Mrs. North, although the weather was stormy almost all day long and they may easily have been hunkered down under cover elsewhere in the valley. We are able to monitor the nest remotely via camera and will be watching and listening for them and checking on their status.
It’s been a tough year for Mr & Mrs North, but we are all very thankful that it is the off-season for them and that there were no eagles in the nest when it went down. You may have questions, so please know that we will do our best to answer them, but in some cases we might not be able to speculate or give a definite response until our site assessment is complete.
The Raptor Resource Project