Happy Fri-yay, everyone! The weather outside is frightful, but the eagles are delightful! Mom and DM2 have had a busy day keeping squirrels and crows at bay. We’ve also got video of a possible (and for eagles, very long) copulation and great close-ups of DM2 and nestorations. Enjoy and thanks to our camera operators and video makers for finding and sharing life on the nests with us, and to you for watching!
Decorah Eagles
1/25/19: Crow scavengers asked to leave –
https://youtu.be/dPGGG9gIoEM. Yes, I did a doubletake! A group of four crows visits N2B. One of them scavenges for nestovers. Three stay while one flies off. All of them leave the nest very quickly when an unseen sentry crow above them sounds the caw alarm at 3:07! What were they cawing at? An eagle flies into the scene at about 3:12 seconds and chases after one of the crows (I had to slow the video down to see it). We get another fly by around 54 seconds before both eagles come to the nest! The video concludes with a nice look at DM2 testing the nestbowl.
1/25/19: Squirrel –
https://youtu.be/BXAdv5dIWLQ. A fox squirrel enters the nest. At 5 seconds – you can see it with the slo-mo on – we see Mom flying towards the nest (look over the retention pond). The squirrel exits very quickly! As Mom flies in, she sets her course for the area below the nest. Look behind Mom at 9 seconds to see DM2, who does a very cool fly-in to the Skywalk.
1/25/19: And more squirrel! –
https://youtu.be/o6VoGkLkAmU. This squirrel’s activities are being tracked from N2B and the maple. As erock said “I don’t think the day will end well for that cute nest visitor.” Check 1:16 for a fast fly-in by Mom, who clearly means business! Slow the video down to see just how narrow the squirrel’s escape was! mom comes into the nest shortly afterwards.
1/24/19: Possible copulation –
https://youtu.be/-VYzP5i60nk. We tend to use ‘possible copulation’ to describe copulation that may not involve a cloacal kiss. We can’t really be sure here, but I was impressed at roughly 18 second copulation time when we are used to seeing something more like 7!
1/23/19: Stick work, DM2 closeups –
https://youtu.be/N9ZBzvrgNvU. Stick tango, nestorations, and great close-ups! DM2 starts working on the nest bowl at 3:33. He sits down, levers his beak into the bowl, and scrapes very hard with is feet – hard enough that I’m surprised we didn’t see the snow flying! Close-ups start at 4:47 and they are wonderful!