The Decorah and Decorah North Eagles are back! We know we have Mr. North and DNF at the North nest. How about the Decorah nest? We know Mom is there. While there is a lot of agreement that the male looks like DM2 (fans have pointed our head shape, beak shape, and what we can see of his eyes), we’re still hoping to confirm with an iris shot – especially after last fall, when we thought we might never leave the confusion couch!
We have videos from both nests tonight, including last night’s visit at Decorah, Mom’s spa day, a beautiful fall morning at the North nest, and Mr. North and DNF. I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I did! Thanks to our talented camera operators for finding such special moments in our nests, our amazing videomakers for sharing them, and to you for watching and caring! Thanks also to Beverly Williams and Kimberly Acurso for the images of Mom Decorah and Mr. North.
Decorah Eagles
October 15, 2019: Mom Decorah
10/15/19: Mom extreme preening – https://youtu.be/j_2opwNJcNk. Mom fiddles with a branch at 52 seconds before beginning to preen. Feathers are extremely important and birds spend a lot of time caring for them – cleaning them, straightening them out, rooting out parasites, and making sure everything is just right! Mom preens and straightens her beautiful tail feathers, preens deeply along her tail line, preens her back, and moves on to her chest and the front of her neck, giving herself the spa treatment she deserves!
10/14/19: Mom and a friend to the nest – https://youtu.be/ecwMMUgsmtQ and Two at sunset – https://youtu.be/frdHMakyoOU. It was fun to chat today, but we still missed the eagles. Fortunately, they showed up at sunset to poke around in N2B (“where’s our snack?”) and perch on the Skywalk. It was great to see them again! “Mom and a friend” also includes some nice views around the nest. Look just left of the Skywalk, up above the treeline, at 4:05 for a very nice fly-in and some great close-ups of the male eagle. We get to see Mom (and a little stick work!) at 5:02. Two at sunset features some of the same footage, although we see the eagles right away.
Decorah Eagles North
October 15, 2019: Mr. North
10/15/19: 1:00 PM visit – https://youtu.be/Bctr8qyTS4M. A cool fly-in from the spooky tree starts at 17 seconds. We get some very nice looks at Mr. North in the nest and DNF on a nearby branch (go to 11:11 for a look at her, although she is concealed behind some leaves). Check 16:18 for some really beautiful preening!
10/15/19: Early morning – https://youtu.be/NE5h5ea4x-w. This lovely video shows almost everything I love about the North nest! It’s missing eagles and cows, but the fall colors are spectacular! At around 22 seconds, we see a starling molting into winter plumage (we only see one, but we hear more). We go to the nest at 3:59 and start a tour of the beautiful fall foliage. Look for stunning portraits of orange and gold oak leaves against vivid green grass and the waters of the creek. Hear the white-breasted nuthatches? The camera operator finds two at 8:11! We get to see them chase, fly, and forage in the bark crevices in the tree. We get another look at the North nest around 11:24 and more starlings at 12:04!
The Raptor Resource Project