Welcome to the Eagle-Palooza! But where did all those eagles come from? Our camera operators reported three eagles this morning: HM, HD, and an unknown adult. All three were seen perched together in a tree to the north of the hatchery – a little unusual, but nothing we haven’t seen before…at least until about 1:50PM this afternoon, when 35 or so of their best friends showed up!
December 11, 2024: A large gathering of eagles in Decorah!David Kester went down to the hatchery to check things out. He reported two large multi-age communal roosts in the wind shadow of a large hill: one of 14/16 eagles and the other of 20/21 eagles. While it seems likely there was a carcass somewhere back in the woods, he couldn’t find one. He’ll be taking another look if the eagles are still there tomorrow morning!
A gathering of eagles behind N2B:
https://youtu.be/YoVvjPoEvu4?si=VUh297OtB758aQkd
Why did so many eagles show up? Large, powerful storms and strong winds in a very large area north of the Twin Cities – so 250 or so miles north of Decorah – most likely sent the last holdouts north in great numbers. If traps at our banding station are any indication, a lot of raptors stayed north far later than they usually do, which means there were a lot of them heading south when winter finally arrived. We’re not used to seeing them in great numbers near the hatchery, but the vagaries of wind, weather, and a plummeting temperature might have halted a mass migration. We’ll see what happens tomorrow morning!
Dave pointed out that the eagles were roosting in the lee or wind shadow of the hill: one of the ways that eagles cope with extremely cold weather. More about that here: https://www.raptorresource.org/2024/12/11/flashback-blog-how-do-eagles-stay-warm-in-cold-weather/.
The Raptor Resource Project