Grab something warm, wrap yourself in a blanket, and get ready for some wonderful videos from Decorah North, Decorah, and the Mississippi Flyway. I love all of these videos, but don’t miss the North fish chase, the beautiful subadult eagle, or the stunning video of Mr. North! We’re still seeing short-eared owls on the Flyway and I hope to write a little bit more about them tomorrow. Eagles and falcons and owls, oh my!
Decorah North
January 24, 2022: That’s my fish! Mr. North doesn’t want to give up his breakfish
January 24, 2022: Mr. North has food and DNF wants it! But he’s not giving up easily! https://youtu.be/b5JtXQTvBHM. The video opens with DNF standing in her snowy nest, her brown feathers beautiful against the white snow and blue shadows. She flies out at 1:20 and we see Mr. North fly in at 2:00, DNF hot on his tail. He mantles and the two squee at one another before he flies out again. The fish chase is on! We see them in the nest again at 2:52 and 3:12 (check out DNF’s cool slide into the nest). Mr. North mantles over his fish, but DNF walks over, nudges him aside, and takes his fish! Mr. North gives up graciously and flies off, hopefully to catch a fish for himself!
January 22, 2022: Subadult visits the North nest and takes the leftovers – https://youtu.be/iQ6e3fBDR2A. The Norths have left a lovely nestover sitting right out in the open: the perfect welcome gift for a hungry young eagle to stuff its crop with! I especially loved the plumage patterns on this eagle: it has the ‘red-tail’ front, the ‘osprey’ eye, and a lot of neat salt and pepper plumage on its body and wings. Take a look at its crop: it’s much bigger when it leaves the nest!
January 21, 2022: Mr. North gleams in the bright winter sunlight
January 21, 2022: Mr. North super close-ups – https://youtu.be/ntpm2qsAY8g. Mr. North gleams with health and vitality in the afternoon sun. We can count every fleck in his iris, every barb in his head feathers, and every flick of his nictitating membrane. Incredible!
Decorah Eagles
January 24, 2022: Mom visits N1
January 24, 2022: Mom on the Y, DM2 on the maple – https://youtu.be/9yA4Es7EVUo. Sixteen lovely minutes of Mom on the Y followed by two minutes of DM2 on the maple. C’mon, Mom and DM2 – start bringing sticks into N1 or N2B!
Mississippi Flyway
January 23, 2022: A short-eared owl on the Flyway
January 23, 2022: Short-eared owl – https://youtu.be/7qcjtB__3iY. The video opens with a short-eared owl perched against a backdrop of reeds. It flies out at 23 seconds – slow the video down to watch it – and we see it again at 33 seconds on top of the solar panel pole. Go to 46 seconds for a very cool close-up look before it flies out!
Want to learn more about owl adaptations? This blog discusses barred owls, great horned owls, and eastern screech owls, but it also applies to snowy owls and short-eared owls. Click here to learn more: https://www.raptorresource.org/2019/03/01/owls-strigiformes/.
Great Spirit Bluff
January 23, 2022: Eagles on a tree – https://youtu.be/RFOdfGfmoO4. This video opens with six eagles perched on a tree against the backdrop of the lock and dam. Five of them wheel out and come back. They are joined by a seventh at 2:31. Beginning at 3:35, the eagles give us a lesson in counting backwards as they leave the tree one by one.
January 21, 2022: Two peregrine falcons – https://youtu.be/7ziM9BjfnGo. A banded (black/red, I think) adult male peregrine is perched on a tree at Great Spirit Bluff. At about 5:45, he begins to look around alertly. Slow the video down and you’ll see something, or the shadow of something, zoom past. He leaves very quickly at 5:52 and she skids in to stick the landing! He appears to be banded black/red and she is unbanded.
Who were these falcons? How can you report band numbers? We have more here: https://www.raptorresource.org/2022/01/24/falcons-at-great-spirit-bluff-reading-and-reporting-peregrine-falcon-band-numbers/.
Odds and Ends
What is warblish? Warblish is the interpretation of bird calls or birdsong as meaningful words or phrases which also mimic the tone and tempo of the bird sounds. This is a pretty cool project: https://warblish.weebly.com/.
Looking for sporting-friendly lead-free resources on Facebook? Check this group out – they have a lot of good information and post regularly: https://www.facebook.com/Sportingleadfree.
Culture was once thought to be uniquely human, but scientists are finding evidence that many birds are also cultural creatures. What does avian culture look like? And why does it matter? Knowable magazine is hosting an online discussion on this topic and it looks fascinating! Check it out here: https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2022/cultural-lives-birds.
The Raptor Resource Project