Happy Hump Day, everyone! Before we get into the NestFlix, a quick calendar round-up:
- We’re anticipating hatch at Decorah North on or around March 23 (how can it be just ten days away!)
- We’re anticipating hatch at Fort St. Vrain on or around April 10.
- We’re anticipating hatch at Trempealeau on or around April 4.
- We don’t when Lisa will start laying eggs at Great Spirit Bluff because we don’t have a previous record. To date, we’ve documented four falcons there. Lisa 53/W has so far chased all the competition away, although we saw quite a fight yesterday. Lisa is doing well.
Thanks so much for all you do: for watching, sharing, learning, and especially for caring! Among many other things, we’re busy trying to document nesting peregrine falcons right now, so if you get a band number, give me an email: [email protected]
Decorah North Nest
March 12, 2024: Days end beauty – https://youtu.be/v80-BsYduuc?si=xLCvtuYk-LI_lKWG. A lovely video with great views of Mr. North, the eggs (2:27), the nest in the setting sun (4:26), Duetting and copulation on the Love Branch (beginning at 5:23), a cool fly-out at 6:45 and again at 7:31 (DNF flies beneath the nest), and DNF coming into incubate at 7:56. A wonderful look at Bald Eagle domestic life!
March 12, 2024: Brown cow and new mini moo – https://youtu.be/yBHTIXGABQI?si=E8LlYJtRObtkLuTA. The video opens with DNF in the nest. Look over to the right and you’ll see a cow grazing in the meadow. What’s that by her? It’s a calf! We get a nice view of the calf at 15 seconds before returning to DNF, who seems to be enjoying the afternoon sun.
March 12, 2024: Mom and the mini-moo head for the stream. Cattle can walk not long after birth!
March 11, 2024: Mr. N has had a messy lunch, nice closeups – https://youtu.be/C6ulirq0lT0?si=6bMUD10UirS2ozR9. Was Mr. North eating cowghetti? His face is just stained enough that I’d like to reach in to wipe it off. He gets up at 7:14 – looking like he might have a pretty full crop! – and rearranges the eggs before a classic Decorah shimmy at 7:39.
I can’t believe we don’t have cowghetti in our diction-aerie: https://www.raptorresource.org/2024/02/09/presenting-the-diction-aerie/! Most cows pass the placenta within six hours of calving. The placenta is rich with blood and tissue, and can’t run away or fight. We often see eagles eating it and feeding it to eaglets during calving season.
March 11, 2024: I loved this view of DNF’s nictitating membrane. Her translucent third eyelid sweeps in from the side to moisten and clean her eyes while allowing her to see.
Decorah Canada Geese
March 13, 2024: Goose egg #3 on N1 – https://youtu.be/25aEVa_HIrE?si=Agi75a0LyRi6HzYF. The spring egg flood is here! MG laid egg #3 today at N1. We’re still waiting to see whether geese also adopt N2B – the original goosy confusion couch! – this year. We saw a pair in the nest on March 10 and a lone goose on the Skyway on March 11, but no one has started laying yet. The pair of geees that nested here last year did not lay until the end of March.
Trempealeau Eagles
March 11, 2024: MrT gives a look at eggs, does some stick work, settles back down – https://youtu.be/C2GrYlas6tE?si=fiml3HeddTjbDh0q. Look for eggs beginning at about 50 seconds. It’s a very warm day – the perfect time to do some nestoration while the eggs cool down and air out.
March 10, 2024: Shift change in the middle of the night. Mr T out Mrs T in – https://youtu.be/DzAPHUmYmLE?si=A11FE7VOjzLk2jqs. I always find these late-night shift changes fascinating. What prompts them? In this case, Mr. T was incubating after dark. Although male eagles incubate during the day, female eagles usually incubate at night, perhaps because their larger size makes it easier to retain heat through the long winter nights.
At about 14 seconds, we hear Mrs. T calling and at 36 seconds, we hear a shifting sound. Mr. T responds and gets up, still calling. He PS’s and calls some more before settling back down over the eggs. She responds at 1:47 from some place very close by, but doesn’t come into the nest. At 3:19, he makes a soft vocalization and we hear her fly in not long after. She comes into the nest while he vocalizes softly and the two switch places as a train sounds its whistle in the background. Listen for arriving waterfowl in the background.
The Raptor Resource Project