Let’s start with a nest round-up!
- We have one eaglet in Decorah and are waiting for hatch on the second egg. D32 has a healthy appetite and has been working on its feeding and food coma skills today! DM2 hasn’t fed his nestling eaglet yet, but he has brought in fish and done his share of brooding (when Mom allowed it).
- We have one eaglet at Decorah North. In case you missed the announcement, DN10 did not make it past its first day. We do not know what happened to DN10, but we are pleased and relieved that DN9 appears to be doing very well.
- We have two eaglets at Fort St. Vrain. The last egg did not hatch and does not ever appear to have had an external pip. These eaglets are ‘twins’ – not truly twins, but very close in age and fun to watch as they alternately cuddle and battle (but not too much).
- Falcons are laying eggs all over! As of this post, we have two eggs at GSB, one at Alma, one at Bay State Milling, one at MPL Hibbard, and four at Genoa! The Dubuque Iowa courthouse nest has three eggs and we are tentatively planning banding on June 1st!
Before we get to our Decorah, Decorah North, and GSB mega-roll, a quick reminder that our first hatch fundraiser is coming up Monday and we hope to see you at the eagle party! We’ll be running chat from 8am to 8pm, publishing a paper by Brett Mandernack, and celebrating here and on Facebook! And now for your nestflix! Happy Fri-yay, everyone!
Decorah Eagles
4/05/19: 4:10 pm D32 feeding – https://youtu.be/7BsVFOVD-lQ. Compare this video to this morning’s first feeding video to see how quickly D32 gained feeding proficiency! the scene at 59 seconds is very cute as D32 has to figure out how to get food off its little beak!
04/05/19: D32’s first feeding – https://youtu.be/crOZ0nuBOwE. Watch the pond at 47 seconds and you’ll see DM2 turn his head to watch Mom catching a fish! She brings it up to the nest (look for a cool fly-in around 1:13). She takes a few nibbles and we see D32 sitting up in the egg cup! See those ‘pits’ behind and under its eyes? Those are earholes! After a couple of missed passes with food, Mom and D32 get their orientation down and Mom is able to feed the nestling eaglet some tiny, well prepared bites of food (the sequence starting around 4:12 is pretty cool – slow it down to see just how delicate the process is, and look for an adorable pink foot and tiny clear talons at around 6:19)! The little eaglet beakplants into a food coma around 9:06, too stuffed to move! It manages to struggle up once, but falls back down as Mom settles over it.
04/05/19: Mom’s stick, D32 getting stronger! https://youtu.be/EmM-EpPNhrU. Mom flies in with a stick and does a little housework before giving DM2 the Mom look! He gets up and we get a nice look at egglet and eaglet at 1:05, and an even better one at 1:30! D32 gapes, giving us a nice look at its tiny tongue as it looks up and begs food from the parent it can hear but barely see. It’s not breakfish time yet, though, and Mom settles over D32!
04/04/19: DM2 wants to say goodnight! https://youtu.be/zm1_qKka2YY. DM2 is on the Skywalk, although we can’t see him very well. He starts to walk down at about 1:27, looking at Mom (who doesn’t seem to be looking back) as though to get her permission before stepping into the nest. After a close-up (no D32) the camera pulls back and we see him standing near Mom. Note how he walks slowly, with his head held down. He looks at her and she looks down. He sidles closer and they look at one another, but Mom does not want to get up! We get brief glimpse of D32 at 4:10 as Mom gently repositions the eaglet. DM2 walks by at 4:36, but Mom doesn’t give him a look and the stand-off, such as it is, continues. This was a really fascinating interaction to me because DM2 seems very interested in his new eaglet, or at least what’s under Mom, and Mom has no interest at all in getting up. Night time is her time, after all. Poor DM2 should have brought a fish!
Hatch!
Pip!
4/3/19: Mom Taking Grasses, View of Eggs, Shift Change – https://youtu.be/_T6cEG54zSs. This short but sweet video gives us a very cool look at Mom taking and bringing in grasses, and a nice look at the eggs. When will they start hatching? C’mon already!
Decorah Eagles North
4/04/19: Mr Ensures He Sits With DN9 lol – https://youtu.be/679Ob5Hl5ls. What’s brown and sticky? A stick! Mr. North shows his love for DNF by putting a stick on her head – a gift she doesn’t seem especially excited about! She flies out, leaving Mr. North in charge of the nest!
4/04/19: Morning cows and a feeding – https://youtu.be/C2on5BIH4PI. I confess – one of the things I love about the North nest is seeing cows and eagles together! While cattle graze below, DNF teakettles softly at Mr. North. He flies out and comes back to the nest at 5:04, although he doesn’t appear to have breakfish. Fortunately, the pan-tree is stocked with nestovers! She feeds DN9 while Mr. North goes on guard. He flies out of the nest while DNF finishes the feeding and settles over DN9. We see more feeding at 12:10 before DNF settles back down and Mr. North comes to the nest with a stick.No, Mr. North – DNF wants food! She flies out and Mr. North takes over.
4/3/19: 10:30AM Feeding – https://youtu.be/IPcmozuF4Mo. Mr. North expertly feeds DN9, who remains mostly hidden behind the grass wall that he and DNF built! While I’m happy that DN9 is out of the chilly wind, I’m wondering if we’ll get to see it before fledge!
4/2/19: Newly Hatched DN10 Did Not Survive – https://youtu.be/rWqE1-sKViE. We don’t know why DN10 died, but going up to the nest was not an option. We did not see aggressive behavior between the eaglets and we have no reason to think that DN10 was poisoned. As so often happens, D10’s carcass was fed to DN9. DN10’s brief life and death will nourish the life of its older sibling.
Mr Has An Egg Shoe Shell lol&DNF De-Furing – https://youtu.be/tqEd3ThuPAk. The eggshell shoe is brief but pretty funny! I’m hoping we’ll get to see more of DNF’s feeding technique as the eaglets get larger. Eagles have sensitive beaks and tongues – very important, since they may not always be able to see very young eaglets while feeding them!
Great Spirit Bluff
04/02/19: First egg for Michelle. Slo-Mo – https://youtu.be/3iomnsLw1so. This is a very cool egg-laying video! Why do falcons and eagles have different colored eggs? A blog: https://bit.ly/2mG8hIH.
The Raptor Resource Project