We’ve got your Nestflix from Decorah and the kestrel nestbox! I liked all of these videos, but don’t miss Mom covering the eaglets with grasses, D32’s enormous pellet, the Sibling Sunday and Eaglet antics videos, and the kestrel shift change. While we still see some dominance interactions, the eaglets are also busy playing with nest materials, preening, watching one another and their parents, and tracking objects in and around the nest. They aren’t standing yet, but their footpads and tarsi have grown immensely and it won’t be long now! In Wisconsin, the female kestrel gets a breakfast break while the male incubates the eggs. When she comes back, he doesn’t want to leave – something that will look familiar to eagle watchers!
Thanks to our camera operators and video makers for finding and sharing special moments in the nest, and to you for watching them
Decorah Eagles
4/29/19: DM2 delivers another sucker fish, Mom feeds –
https://youtu.be/igvGnBx7XrQ. The eaglets went from cold this morning to seeking shade by late afternoon! DM2 delivers a sucker fish and Mom feeds. No dominance displays, just plenty of very fresh fish!
4/29/19: Mom Covers Eaglets with Grasses –
https://youtu.be/D_XPpfQzx7I. Last week, we saw Mr. North dig up nest material to cool DN9. I think Mom may have been covering her eaglets today to help keep them warm. It is wet and cool, and she is too big to shelter them. She pulls up fluffy nest material and proceeds to cover both eaglets, carefully assuring that they are mostly buried under nesting material from head to toe!
4/29/19: D32 casts a pellet –
https://youtu.be/ShHryW68OWk. D32 casts a pellet at 3:04. In the meantime, watch D33 watching D32 when it attempts to cast at 24 seconds. The expression – what? – is priceless, and the pellet casting itself is quite impressive! This makes it clear how much indigestible material the eaglets have been eating!
4/28/19: D32 & D33’s Sibling Sunday –
https://youtu.be/NDItmdaPMgI. The eaglets are dozing in a cuddle puddle (sibling pillows are the best) when both of them get up, so stuffed it’s a wonder they can stand! D32 begins playing with nest materials and preening before laying back down. At 4:03, D32 gets up again and warbles and wingercizes. They aren’t yet standing on their feet, but it won’t be long now! DM2 comes in, feeds, and leaves. D33 starts playing with nesting materials, but D32 puts an end to it with a beak bonk.
4/28/19: Eaglet antics, enormous crops –
https://youtu.be/e7xI7OoXPgM. D32 snoozes while D33 sits up tall and begins to preen, showing us an enormous crop! At 2:00, D32 sits up tall, showing us its very long wings! D33 almost falls over from an accidental wing whap but recovers. D32 warbles, bumps into D33, and PS’s, splatting up and over the rails. Look out below, everyone! D33 appears slightly annoyed by the ruckus, but both eaglets begin preening themselves once it dies down. Mom flies in at 3:07 with a load of grass (watch the eaglets watch her as she flies in) and deposits it by the eaglets. Check out D32 (I think) in a heraldic or sun pose at 5:00!
4/27/19: D32’s comment on the weather –
https://youtu.be/phRuP9NHKMQ. Try not to duck! Mom can’t quite cover both eaglets, but she does her very best to keep them both covered and D32 expresses what a lot of us were thinking when we saw the words ‘snow’, ‘ice’, ‘mixed precipitation’, ‘wintry mix’, and Decorah.
American Kestrels
4/29/19: Male Kestrel Takes Over Incubation Duties While Female Eats Breakfast –
https://youtu.be/oDtv03aE70w. The female doesn’t wait for the male to hand it over – she grabs the prey item (perhaps a vole) and books! He settles over the eggs as best he can, his fluffed-up grey and blue plumage contrasting beautifully with the brownish splotched ring of five rounded eggs. She returns at 2:59. Despite the Mom look, he doesn’t want to get up! She approaches him and vocalizes, and he finally gets up at 3:37 (this is a long time on rapid-fire 8X kestrel clock). He leaves and she settles over the eggs!
The Raptor Resource Project