November 12: Videos from Decorah, Decorah North, and the Flyway

Our video mega-roll includes videos from the Decorah Eagles, the Decorah North Eagles, and the Mississippi River Flyway. Eagles are Decorah-ating, preening, snapping sticks, fishing, and forming an eagle heart, while Tundra swans and other birds are migrating, and late fall is rapidly becoming early winter! We hope you enjoy these videos as much as we did!

Decorah Eagles

November 10, 2019: DM2 preening

11/09/19: Mom and DM2 work on the nesthttps://youtu.be/iJ4bzSXl9eg. The video opens with DM2 moving a few sticks around the nest. Mom flies in very rapidly from the right and eventually hops up on to the Skywalk. She flies down to join DM2 again after a minute or two and the two begin moving sticks, including a wonky, hard-to-place stick at 4:40 (the stick needs several twigs snapped off and of course DM2 needs to help get it just right). Mom starts digging in the nestbowl around 8:44, pulling materials out from beneath the snow as she loosens the substrate. The big surprise for me in this video was seeing them both at N1 at about 13:21! DM2 flies in, lands on a nearly vertical trunk, and walk-slides down to Mom! The quarters are pretty tight for two eagles and they leave pretty quickly: him for the Y and her for the maple. The video ends with some very nice close-ups of DM2’s body and head.

11/09/19: Autumn and Snow Oct-Nov 19https://youtu.be/DeIsmlApZYo. This slideshow-style video is set to classical music and includes really nice views and video clips from the Decorah and Decorah North nests as it covers some major highlights from October and early November.

Decorah North Eagles
November 10, 2019: Mr. North and DNF form an eagle heart

November 10, 2019: Mr. North and DNF form an eagle heart

11/10/19: DNF breaks branch and she goes fishinghttps://youtu.be/8x8fZBo-Bzg. This is a nice look at daily eagle life. The branch break is extremely cool! It happens at :37 as DNF uses momentum to break a large stick off the love branch tree. I recommend slowing the video down so you can really see it! She hits a branch as she falls, but she recovers and flies the large stick into the nest before catching a fish at 5:05. DNF hops out of the water with it, dries off a little bit, and enjoys some breakfish, with pauses to see what the neighborhood watch crows are talking about. She flies off at around 13 minutes. The cam operator switches to the nest, where Mr. North is hard at work! At 15:18, they both vocalize on the Love Branch and we get some nice looks at them preening and perching together. Look for the eagle heart at 24:27!

11/09/19: A Buck and Doeshttps://youtu.be/wGNOoHJ5vxA. The North eagles live in a rural, wild valley and we often see other wildlife here. We can see the does right away (look carefully, since they aren’t especially visible at first). The buck shows up and scatters the does at around 7:35. Its thick neck and large rack indicate that it is a sexually mature adult, since bucks’ necks swell thanks to a huge surge in steroids (testosterone hormones) during rut. Slow down the video to see it hop the fence at 7:51. At 7;55, DNF vocalizes as something flies by fast. It has a dark back and pale undersides and we can’t be sure what it was. Mr. North flies in from that direction a handful of seconds later and the two vocalize together.

11/07/19: Close-ups of DNFhttps://youtu.be/-eO8X4-Cm_0. Everyone was concerned about DNF last week after a strange female eagle showed up at the nest and she didn’t show up to defend. We were all relieved to see her show up the next day! This video has some great close-ups! Slow the video down at 6:47 for an extremely cool look at her nictitating eyelid – and I know that eagles don’t smile, but I had to remind myself of that at 9:08 and 9:19! She preens a little at 9:41 and a lot beginning at 11:31, showing off the 14 cervical vertebrae that allow her turn her neck a lot farther than we can as she carefully cleans and straightens her feathers, rouses a bit, and has a nice scratch! Watch and listen for Canada Geese along the stream at 24:02, just before DNF flies out.

Mississippi Flyway
November 11, 2019: Tundra Swans on the Flyway

November 11, 2019: Tundra Swans on the Flyway

11/11/19: Young Eagle having fun with the stickhttps://youtu.be/hJVFcxA0cQo. Young eaglets don’t need expensive toys when a long stick will do! This short but cool video shows us two young eagles playing with the stick. Note the wind – it was really blowing today!

11/10/19: A morning with a Tundra Swanhttps://youtu.be/cFNWvRkE9J0. Just what the video says! Look for a really interaction between two pairs of swans at 2:35. Their displays are directed toward the mate or other family member, but are elicited by an agonistic interaction with the non-family member and performed within visual and auditory range of the opponent. This is exactly what we are seeing here! We have wing-flapping, a physical interaction, and a submissive posture after one swan’s mate or family member is driven away. You can also see Mallard ducks and Canada geese. Look for a wonderful flyaway at the end of the video!