November 30, 2019: D27’s map
Where is D27? Our just a little over two-year eaglet evaded a live search in early November, but she remains near, if not at, her natal nest! Eagles are philopatric: that is, they tend to return to (roughly) their point of origin to nest. But it’s interesting to see her wintering in the Decorah area. The eaglets in our transmitter studies were all the offspring of Mom and Dad, but they dispersed, migrated, wandered, and wintered in very different ways.
So: not gonna lie – we were kind of disappointed when we didn’t find D27 in mid-November, but we are so happy she is healthy and wintering in Decorah-dise! For those of you wondering about DN9 from the North nest: could she come back? Maybe. She abandoned her nest, was rescued, and fledged from SOAR, which is nowhere near her natal nest. If she follows other eagles, she’ll probably end up wintering on the lower Upper Mississippi river (Lock and Dam 18 comes to mind) or over on the Missouri, which is just a little bit closer, but would mean flying into the (usually) prevailing winds from the west. The intruders we are seeing at the North Super Flyway probably don’t include DN9 given timing and geography, but look for a band – and let us know – if you get one! Fly high and eat well, D27!
Thanks as always to Brett Mandernack and the staff of Eagle Valley for sharing their maps, knowledge, and expertise with us! To explore the travels of all the eagles we’ve tracked, go to https://www.raptorresource.org/learning-tools/eagle-map/
The Raptor Resource Project