Raptor Resource Project: Bald Eagle and Bird of Prey Cams

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Monthly Archives: March 2019

March 28, 2019: News and Nestflix from the nests!

March 28, 2019 RaptorResource

We are moving closer to a third eaglet at Xcel Fort St. Vrain, hatch at the Decorah and Decorah North nests, and peregrine falcon eggs at all of our falcon nests! At last report, we had a first peregrine egg at Genoa (which has a cam), although we are still waiting for eggs everywhere else. Given all of the courtship, pair bonding, and what Bob used to call ‘eggy’ females, it won’t be long! Tonight we have videos from Decorah

March 26: Nest news and Nestflix round-up!

March 26, 2019 RaptorResource

The Xcel Fort Saint Vrain eagles hatched their first egg last night at 9:43 PM MT! We start hatch watch in Decorah North on March 30th and hatch watch in Decorah on March 31st – although keep in mind that hatch could start a little earlier or a little later. We don’t know which egg broke in Decorah, so that could impact hatch timing as well. Once we have a pip, we’ll let everyone know! We’re also looking for an

03/21/19: Nest news and videos!

March 21, 2019 RaptorResource

Spring really sprung at our nests this week! Falcons are back at almost every spot, we’re seeing Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes, Common Goldeneye ducks, and other migrating waterfowl at the Flyway, Peregrine Falcon Newman is bringing food gifts to mate Michelle, and background birdsong can be heard almost all of our nests. If any of you are good at birdsong ID, please get back to me – we’re looking for someone to help us figure out what we are hearing!

March 20, 2019: A postcard from D27!

March 20, 2019 RaptorResource

It looks like D27 has decided to join the eagle party on the Mississippi River! She left Decorah on March 13 and flew NNW out to the Bluffton area, not far from Bob’s old farmstead and falcon breeding barns, before heading east to the Mississippi river. She is currently spending time on the Minnesota Slough just east of New Albin, Iowa. This area is rich in food resources and quite close to one of our falcon sites. We can’t help

Peek inside a bald eagle egg: 17 days!

March 20, 2019 RaptorResource

This blog was first published on March 23, 2017. We reposted it to give everyone a peek inside the eggs. As of this writing, there are two eagle eggs in Decorah. We’re not sure whether the oldest or second oldest egg cracked, but we do know that the youngest is about 17.5 days old. What do embyronic eagles look they look like as they develop and grow inside their eggs? Dr. Peter Sharpe from the Institute for Wildlife Studies developed a

3/19/19: Video Round-Up

March 19, 2019 RaptorResource

Tonight’s video round-up features the Great Spirit Bluff cam and the birds of the Flyway! Michelle eats a little breakfeather, Newman copulates on the fly, American White Pelicans raft on ice, and bald eagles skate – or at least stand side by side on the ice. We hope you enjoy these videos as much as we did! I know that I’m having a hard time deciding what to watch right now! Great Spirit Bluff Falcons 3/18/19: Michelle’s first breakfast –

March 14, 2019: Nest news and Nestflix!

March 14, 2019 RaptorResource

Falcons are coming back all over the place! Newman returned to GSB on February 15th. He was temporarily joined by an unbanded female falcon that forum users christened ‘Cheeky’, but Michelle returned today and presumably showed the interloper the door! Ice-out is imminent on the Flyway cam and watchers are reporting hearing Canada Geese and other birds as spring tide starts flowing northward along the Big River. Worried about mice in our eagle nests? They are not a threat to

Can mice destroy bald eagle eggs?

March 14, 2019 RaptorResource

Eeeek – mice! We’re getting asked whether mice could or did destroy eggs in our eagle nests. Our answer? A guarded “No”. In North America, researchers have found limited predation by mice in the nests of smaller birds, and none in the nests of birds of prey or larger birds. Researchers have been looking at nest predation for a long time. How do nest location, weather, landscape, habitat fragmentation, and predator-prey/predator-predator relationships impact predation rates? Can nest predation be reduced?

Your questions, answered: Questions from Explore followers!

March 14, 2019 RaptorResource

Since we weren’t able to get to everyone’s questions during our chat on Explore, we answered them here. Watch the full chat here! https://youtu.be/MCtdzn13aSI. How do eagles keep their feet from freezing? An eagle’s legs use counter-current heat exchange to control body temperature. Warm arterial blood flowing from an eagle’s core into its feet passes cool venous blood flowing the other way. Heat is exchanged, warming the blood flowing into its core and cooling the blood flowing into its feet. The

March 11, 2019: News and Video Round-up

March 11, 2019 RaptorResource

As I’m sure most of you know, we lost an egg in Decorah today. We’re getting a lot of questions about how the eagles respond to loss and how they might feel about the broken egg. It’s a complicated question that we plan to write about tomorrow. In the meantime, it was nice to see Mom and DM2 caring for the remaining two eggs – gently turning them, shimmying over them, and covering them on a warm, bright day. Our

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