Who turned on the switch at the North Nest? Mr. North and DNF have been very busy with nestorations! The two laid down a nice framework of sticks and filled it with a veritable shag carpet of husks, stalks, and grass, replenishing it as squirrels filch material for their own nests! Turkeys also appear to be responding to longer days and diminished snow cover: we’re seeing males displaying and females roosting in trees. Now I understand how turkey vultures got their name, since turkeys look remarkably like turkey vultures when they are roosting in a tree.
January 17, 2023: A turkey in the mist. Turkeys aren’t great fliers, but they will roost in trees.
Our volunteers saw activity almost all day long today, including DNF vocalizing and the turkey clucking in reply, fishing, stick tango and beaking, a belted kingfisher on the rootball (this year’s bird of the year!), preening, and Mr. North testing and fine tuning the nest! I enjoyed all of these videos, but I especially liked the nestorations and DNF talking turkey – to a turkey! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Decorah North Eagles
January 17, 2023: Nestorations, beakering, and turkeys displaying – https://youtu.be/PZ1unvp2SGs. Stick fans, this video is for you! Mr. North and DNF work on the North Nest, moving husks and nibbling at one another. I can’t decide whether these are Beakerson’s moments or eagle flirting! Is there much of a difference when it comes to nestorations? Look for two Tom turkeys briefly displaying at 1:57! Mr. North and DNF have a lot of neighbors.
January 17, 2023: Eagle flirting or a Beakerson’s moment? There doesn’t seem to be much of a difference!
January 17, 2023: DNF and the turkey morning vocals – https://youtu.be/YrGTrsXgvnA. This is wild. A Tom turkey is roosting up on the Love Branch tree to the left of the nest as we face the pasture. She vocalizes and the Tom appears to respond with vocals and a display!
I guess we’re just a bunch of turkeys at RRP, since we’ve got more turkeys here: https://youtu.be/hfx95XUu184. Males and females separate into sexually segregated flocks during the winter. Groups of males will establish a pecking order through displays and some altercations. The dominant male will copulate while his understudies serve as wingmen. It’s too early for breeding and both of these turkeys are male, which means we are watching a dominance interaction. May the Tom with the best display win!
January 17, 2023: A Tom turkey displays near the North nest.
January 15, 2023: A squirrel in the nest! https://youtu.be/vIyRcbr4YRc. A squirrel comes to the nest to pilfer the corn husk (with cob) that Mr. North brought to the nest an hour earlier. We get a brief closeup at 50 seconds before the first takes off to keep a second squirrel from stealing its prize!
The Raptor Resource Project