Monthly Archives: November 2020

2020 Newsletter: Education Update

Teaching with Eagles

By Lori Carnes The Raptor Resource Project launched a sister website, www.raptorresource.education, to provide educator-crafted learning materials for students of all ages. Educators can remix lesson plans or share them as they are. We have 35 lessons right now, including 11 Google Classroom-ready lessons, and are adding more. How did I find the time to teach about bald eagles? Many of our lessons don’t teach bald eagles, but teach core concepts through bald eagles. When I taught collective nouns, I

Read more News

2020 Newsletter, Featured Partner: Great River Energy

Newsletter 2020: Brenda Geisler holds a nestling falcon

When Great River Energy decided to close its Elk River facility, Brenda Geisler, a 20-year Great River Energy employee and resident raptor expert, immediately started work on relocating the plant’s nest box. “A lot of co-ops are experiencing plant retirements and a lot have peregrine nests,” she says. “Moving this nest is a way to keep this a legacy for this plant and others.” To find the right accommodations in time for the birds’ 2020 return, Geisler assembled a 24-member

Read more News

2020 Newsletter, Project Spotlight: Camera Work!

Amy paints the new camera mounts at N1

The Raptor Resource Project installs cameras in September. This year, we replaced three cameras and two microphones at N2B, two cameras and one microphone at N1, and one camera and two microphones at Decorah North. We also cleaned the cameras we didn’t replace, did some trimming in and around the nests, covered the cables at N1, worked with a videographer to collect footage for educational videos, and purchased a new computer for 4K video processing in Decorah. Why do we

Read more News

Announcing: Our 2020 Annual Report

Ming Kester with a falcon

Read the 2020 Annual Report | Download the 2020 Annual Report Welcome! The Raptor Resource Project had an interesting and rewarding year despite the Covid-19 pandemic. While it turned our human families and routines upside down, things didn’t change much for the raptor families that we watch. On reflection, much of what affects us might not raise a feather in the natural world. But much of what we do has serious consequences for the wildlife around us. Our mission of

Read more News

November 23, 2020: Eaglet airmail!

November 22, 2020: D36's Map

Thanks for the airmail, eaglets! Can we still call D27 an eaglet? She is a little over three years old right now and is spending her time in a valley system just a few miles south of her natal nest. We keep wondering if she’ll cross paths with sibling D36, but the two haven’t been especially close so far. D36 continues to hang south, moving his foraging area from the Turkey River to the Volga River: also a popular spot

Read more Decorah Eagles, News

November 22, 2020: Videos and news from Decorah

November 22, 2020: mom Decorah near N1

We have a little #sundaysweetness for everyone this morning! As the nest shows, Mom and DM2 have been busy! These videos give us a very nice look at both eagles and a little nestoration at N2B. Have a great day, everyone! Decorah Eagles November 21, 2020: Early morning – https://youtu.be/zV75RVbrRag. Mom is at N1, which is currently decorah-ated with a single stick. DM2 lands at N2B with another stick, which he places in the nest. A frosty Mom comes to

Read more Decorah Eagles, News

November 19, 2020: Videos from Decorah, Decorah North, and the Flyway

November 19, 2020: Nestorations!

What a day it was in Decorah! Once Mom and DM2 decided it was time to get going on nestorations, they didn’t waste any time. We saw sticks, corn husks, cornstalks, and road kill in N2B today! At Decorah North, an opossum collects leaves with its tail. On the Flyway, two beautiful bald eagles stand next two one another, casting lovely reflections on the still water. I hope you enjoyed these videos as much as we did. Thank you so

Read more Decorah Eagles, Decorah North Eagles, Mississippi Flyway Cam, News

November 17, 2020: Nestflix from Decorah, Decorah North, and the Flyway!

November 17, 2020: Magnificent Mom!

We have your Nestflix from Decorah, Decorah North, and the Flyway! I loved all of these videos, but I especially enjoyed seeing Mom and DM2 working on the nest, the food chase at the North nest, and the food fight on the Mississippi Flyway – or most of the videos we’ve rounded up for you tonight! We hope you are doing well and enjoy these videos as much as we did. Thank you so much for watching with us! Decorah

Read more Decorah Eagles, Decorah North Eagles, Mississippi Flyway Cam, News

Do female eagles experience menopause?

November 15, 2020: Nestorations at N2B

We’re getting a lot of questions about eagles and what might be called menopause this week. Many of you want to know if female bald eagles stop laying eggs due to age-related changes in their bodies – the avian version of menopause. Is Mom disinterested in DM2 because she’s done with eggs? The short answer is ‘No’, but I want to unpack the question a little further. Human menopause is very unusual. Unlike the vast majority of animals, human women

Read more Decorah Eagles, News

November 12, 2020: Searching for Mom and DM2

November 12, 2020: A frosty fresh fish breakfast on the Skywalk!

We were in Decorah on November 12 and spent a little over two hours looking for Mom and DM2. Somebody enjoyed a little frosty fresh fish breakfast on the Skywalk yesterday morning, but they were gone by the time we arrived. Unfortunately, we missed it! Would we see Mom or DM2 again today? Would we find the beginnings of a new nest? The lack of leaves made it an excellent day to go looking! We started with a few assumptions.

Read more Decorah Eagles, News
« Older Entries Recent Entries »