Happy Fri-yay, everyone! We’ve got a regular raptor movie marathon with videos from Decorah, Decorah North, the Flyway, and the Wisconsin kestrels, a short clip that shows the nest building work we did on N1 last year, and two blogs that discuss fall activity and bald eagle egg-laying. We hope you like them as much as we did!
Thank you so much to our wonderful camera operators and video makers for sharing the beauty of the world around us, and to all of you for watching, learning, and especially for caring.
Decorah Eagles
October 27, 2022: Wing hug! HD front, HM back
October 27, 2022: A wonky stick and bonding on the Y-Branch – https://youtu.be/YtlobGkgQWA. Where should this stick go? Here? No. How about here? No. What if I..? No! HD struggles to place a wonky stick while HM works on the flooring and moves a few sticks of her own.
The bonding attempt occurs at 12:30’ish. HM moves over to HD and the two duet. HD signals a interest in bonding, but HM does not respond by tipping forward and the attempt fails. HD does not seem especially discouraged and the two duet together afterwards. Flying and copulation are both instinctive, but skill takes practice!
October 27, 2022: Morning nest activity, hard landing, nestorations – https://youtu.be/GvOlCFw5QpY. HM and HD are still working out their personal space, but nestorations are proceeding nicely! HD is in the nest when HM flies in. Looking for an ID guide? Follow this link! https://www.raptorresource.org/2022/10/22/eagle-id-how-do-you-tell-hm-and-hd-apart/
Some of our volunteers refer to HD and HM as ‘the twins’. We’re working on a photo gallery and a couple of quizzes to help hone our ID skills.
October 25, 2022: Morning nibbling and nestorations: https://youtu.be/akCnp28UTEc. HD and HM are hard at work on their new nest! The two have been in full-speed ahead mode since early October, alternating straight sticks, wonky sticks, and piles of fluff! It might seem early to start bringing grass to the nest, but the subfloor needs a lot of prep before egg cup construction starts. It needs to be low enough to drain water and soft enough to absorb it. The layers of material insulate the eggs and help protect them from rupturing and puncture.
October 25, 2022: HM and HD do the stick tango! He’s left – see his smaller beak? – and she’s right
October 25, 2022: Nestorations and stick tango! https://youtu.be/KyzfjK0Bh5I. The video opens with HM moving soft materials to create a deep, soft depression in the nest bowl. She’s on the left, he’s on the right, and we briefly see some black flecks on her head: a nice ID mark when we’re fortunate enough to spot them! While she fiddles with the fluff, HD grabs a stick! She notices and the stick tango begins! His stick OCD wins the day and she flies out of the nest. Once she’s gone, he fine-tune fiddles her fluff, which reminds me of another male eagle we watched here. The nest looks as cozy as feather bed!
Watch closely and you’ll see him fly underneath her and up the valley at the very end of the video.
From the Fall of 2021: the N1 nest rebuild project. Kike and Amy are placing the framework, which they will fill with debris collected from the woods near N2B and sticks from the Decorah Yard Waste site.
Rebuilding a Bald Eagle’s nest: https://youtu.be/3NzpFXZVEFo. By the fall of 2021, N1 had largely dwindled away. Without constant replenishment, the nest eventually composted and material began to fall out of the tree. We decided to rebuild it in the hope of attracting Mom and Dad back to the hatchery. Instead, we attracted a new pair of eagles!
I’m sorry we don’t have more video, but this shows the general technique we used to rebuild the nest. The sticks come from the Decorah yard waste site and we collected several baskets of forest floor material near N2B.
Decorah North
October 26, 2022: DNF is pretty in pink at the North nest.
October 24, 2022: Bielik amerykański (Bald Eagles) Decorah North – https://youtu.be/2dTLwM1xiKs. It’s that time of the year! Mr. North and DNF are getting busy on the north nest.
Bielik amerykański translates to ‘American Bald Eagle’! To hear it in Polish, follow this link and press the speaker icon below the Polish phrase: https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=en&text=Bielik%20ameryka%C5%84ski&op=translate.
Why are the Decorah Eagles getting ready so early? Why do the Decorah North eagles start so late? What about those eagles in Florida? We’ve got blogs about that!
Wisconsin Kestrels
2022 Wisconsin Kestrel Cam Season Highlights – https://youtu.be/JYBhDK_wR5Q. North America’s smallest falcons were at it again this spring on Bird Cams! Watch the best nuggets from the American Kestrel nest box as the adults worked around the clock to raise four wily nestlings from hatch to fledge in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. I loved the highlights and it really captured the beauty and uniqueness of the American Kestrel. When we make space for wildlife and wildlands, we surround ourselves with wonder.
Mississippi Flyway
October 27, 2022: A large flight of ducks begins an early morning flight south on the Flyway.
October 27, 2022: Flyway Morning – https://youtu.be/nNroK-Q4roQ. A large flight of ducks begins an early morning trip south on the Flyway.
The Raptor Resource Project