Happy Fri-yay! Grab beverages and snacks, put your feet up, and prepare for cuteness overload – it’s time for NestFlix! While Mr. North and DNF care for DN13 at Decorah North, Newman and Zooey strengthen their pair bond. I am so happy to be watching, sharing, learning, and caring with all of you! We are on hatch watch for egg #2 at Decorah North. 🦅
Decorah Eagles North
March 26, 2021: Mr. North and DN13
March 26, 2021: DN13, peeks and feedings today – https://youtu.be/68_BP7wx9GI. This wonderful round-up video catches all of the highlights: an early feeding by Dad, DNF and the eyeball, DN13’s beak bling, and DNF warning an intruder to stay away from the nest!
What does eaglet development in the first week look like? Hatchlings gain weight, coordination, and strength. Learn more here: https://www.raptorresource.org/2021/03/26/eaglet-growth-and-development-week-one/
March 26, 2021: Cuteness overload! Dad is feeding his sweetie – https://youtu.be/jWPdPh4sLHM. I love eagle Dads! Mr. North has a lot of eaglet care under his wings and he excels at feeding newly hatched eaglets. This video includes several wonderful views of DN13 – look at those blueberry eyes! – and Mr. North. After just one day, DN13 is stronger, more coordinated, and better able to sit up for feedings. This video needs a cuteness warning!
March 26, 2021: Sweet view of DN13 with Mr. North – https://youtu.be/yv3whkSQh1U. Another adorable video! Is that ET or DN13 at 27 seconds? Mr. North feeds a very hungry eaglet before brooding, carefully tucking the little eaglet under him with an expert shimmy.
How do eaglets breathe when parents are brooding them? Mr. North and DNF are very aware of everything going on in the Romper Room! They adjust their position to warm eaglets up, cool eaglets down, make sure eaglets can breathe, and keep pokey little beaks at bay. The sides of the egg cup are fairly permeable when the adults are sitting up high, which makes for a very breathable basement.
March 26, 2021: Eyeball – Breakfast of Champions! https://youtu.be/DQYnTHKew3s. Sherri Elliott wrote about DNF attempting to feed a trout eyeball to DN13. Eyeballs are 100% digestible – no fur, bone, or scales – and an excellent food for hatchling eaglets!
Great Spirit Bluff Falcons
March 27, 2021: Newman and Zooey
March 26, 2021: Newman and Zooey mating on top of camera – https://youtu.be/xGGKIxcJhdM. The nest site competition was fierce – as it is among falcons! – but Zooey won the rose! This is a really good look at falcon mating behavior. Zooey expresses her interest by chupping and tipping forward, lifting her tail and exposing her undersides. Newman responds very enthusiastically, flying in for an aerial 10-second copulation. Zooey rouses after he is done: one sign of a content and happy falcon.
Zooey is behaving like a gravid falcon: she is spending a lot of time near the nest box and appears a little plumped up. Female birds need to retain a lot of water – sound familiar? – to lay eggs, which means that they often appear larger and tend to be a little more sedentary when they are gravid. We don’t know Zooey’s egg laying schedule, but I think we’ll see eggs at Great Spirit Bluff sooner rather than later!
Odds and Ends
Bird Watching Goes Both Ways: https://www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a34762846/los-angeles-bird-watching-jason-g-goldman/. Watcher Thomas Johnson shared this with us and it could not be more cool! I watch the birds in my yard. They also watch and know everything important about my family and I. You may have a lot more neighbors than you think – and you better believe that they are watching you!
The Raptor Resource Project