September 22, 2020: Time for camera work!

It’s September! The eaglets have fledged and our eagle Moms and Dads are at their lowest point of attachment to their nests, which makes it the perfect time for camera work.  We don’t have a cam turn-on date yet (although I will post as soon as we do!), but here is a rough outline of our tasks:

  • At N2B: We’ll be replacing three cameras and two microphones at N2B, cleaning everything up, and doing a little trimming around the nest branches. I am so excited to watch and listen this season – John has deployed some incredible new technology and our microphones and microphone placements can’t be beat! As you’ll see from our pictures, we are working with Jake Stephens, a videographer, artist, and editor who lives in Prairie Du Chien, to create short videos for our educational program. I can hardly wait to see what he does!

Favorite moment so far: I have more than one, but I especially enjoyed seeing a juvenile eagle – D34, perhaps? – chasing an osprey who had just caught a fish in the retaining pond, and helping to get Jake up into N2B with his extremely cool camera.

  • At N1: We’ll be replacing two cameras, cleaning everything up, and covering the exposed cables. While they are low voltage and could not hurt the eagles, we don’t want them torn apart. I’ll post more photos when we have them!
September 17: Kike Arnal trimming branches at N1.

September 17: Kike Arnal trimming branches at N1.

  • At Decorah North: We’ll be replacing two cameras and a microphone, doing a little trimming, and cleaning everything up! I’m looking forward to seeing the Valley of the Norths and comparing their nest to Mom and DM2’s nest near the fish hatchery.

It looked to me like Mom and DM2 added about six to eight inches to their nest this year. I can hardly wait to see how the North nest compares, especially given the size of their North’s front porch! The North nest is a little hard to get into, but I hope we have a chance to measure it. 

Thank you so much for all of your support. We can hardly wait to share our changes and upgrades with you! Looking for something to do while waiting for the eagles to come back? Migration is in full swing on the Mississippi Flyway!