Stick play!

Mom joined the stick party yesterday and the subadult upped his stick game today, choosing larger, heavier sticks to place on top of his initial platform. As I point out below, this is pretty similar to our builds – establish a platform and start piling on the sticks, with smaller sticks and some vegetation to fill in the gaps. We hope you enjoy the sticky fun as much as we did!

Decorah Eagles

8/15/19: SA on stick duty again – https://youtu.be/YkUiKImYavU. The nest’s base is beginning to take shape as the subadult adds larger sticks! Did Mom send him to stick school or is he figuring out as he goes? Either way, his build looks a lot like ours – establish a platform and start piling on the sticks, with smaller sticks and some vegetation (leafy debris in our case and fresh branches with greenery in his) to fill in the gaps.

8/14/19: Mom moves sticks at N1 – https://youtu.be/ZsZFy49QOhY. Mom flies in fast at the beginning of the video! Although she doesn’t bring a stick (I slowed it down and watched a few times to be sure), she moves sticks and appears to check out the cable! Follow this link for a longer version: https://youtu.be/wKMg3M60i1U. Check at the beginning and again around 43:12 to see how much work has been done.

8/14/19: Sub-adult close-ups – https://youtu.be/hJxeMb6PFSc. Our camera operators are building a feature catalog for immediate identification and long run comparison if the subadult stays. Note that the blackflies aren’t entirely gone, although they don’t appear to be crawling through plumage or biting skin and lightly feathered areas…although you can see them crawling around the subadult’s feet at 3:42! Perhaps these flies are males, who don’t take a blood meal, or maybe females that don’t parasitize birds? Either way, the camera operator treats us fantastic close-ups as the subadult preens! Close-ups start at 1:43.

8/14/19: SA brings another stick, sunset views – https://youtu.be/DRHP7lmR_1k. This lovely video alternates between views of the subadult and the sunset until 12:01, when the subadult brings in a stick to N1 right at dusk!