Happy Fri-yay, everyone! Welcome to the week in Bald Eagles! 🦅 This week, the Norths perfected their nestorations, ramped up their courtship – albeit in a very eagle way – and enjoyed some trout tartare, the Fort St. Vrain Eagles shoveled snow and fed themselves and the local magpies, the Trempealeau Eagles showed off their magnificent river views, and HM and HD hosted some visitors.
Is your egg clock ticking yet? If the Decorah North and Fort St. Vrain Eagles stay on their usual schedule, we should see eggs in about 35 days. Talons crossed!
January 5, 2025: Ma catches a fish, then a magpie shares her leftovers – https://youtu.be/PXJnWrAgNiI?si=yJbb6sHlpVq_6SiT. Ma took a break from nestorations to bring in a fish. After she was done eating, a Black-billed Magpie cleaned up her nestovers!
At Decorah North, nuthatches and woodpeckers commonly provide avian clean-up services. But at Fort St. Vrain, we see Black-billed Magpies! Birds of The World tells us that they frequently followed bison-hunting Native Americans, entered tents to steal meat, and took food from the hand. It’s no surprise that we see them foraging at Fort St. Vrain despite Ma and Pa’s occasional discouragement!
January 6, 2025: HM perched near N1. January 6th brought at least two eagle visitors to HM and HD’s territory. We saw four adults perching together very early in the morning: https://youtu.be/5KsUV_eKBJM?si=2pXj4NWeOtxGvQhV&t=97. They left with no incidents and HM and HD went about their day.
January 7, 2025: Watch out, Pa! A storm dropped several inches of snow on Fort St. Vrain and left Ma and Pa digging out the nest and hauling in new material: https://youtu.be/MWf4XCaOJc4?si=Q-_puLpLzaYXtfp7.
January 9, 2025: DNF caught a nice trout for breakfast – https://youtu.be/X2GebRWdrYo?si=6g5qKAufUzY11AcH. While Bald Eagles eat a wide variety of food, their favorite thing is fish! Although the species change, fish make up from 68 to 88% of meals at our nests. We tend to see whatever is most common and easiest to catch: trout and sucker at the North nest and sucker, carp, and trout at Fort St. Vrain. We’re still working on fish ID in Trempealeau, but we’ve seen gar come into the nest, reflecting its location on the Mississippi River. To learn more about what our eagles eat, follow this link: https://www.raptorresource.org/tag/menu/.
January 9, 2025: Another nice look at DNF flying into the nest with a trout.
January 8, 2025: Nice views of Mrs. T at Trempealeau – https://youtu.be/z1HzC7ew9BY?si=775ijXmLvdl2Y-rL.
January 8, 2025: I loved this close-up of Mrs. T!
January 7, 2025: Snow removal continues at the Xcel Energy Fort St. Vrain nest!
January 6, 2025: Building and Beaking at the North nest! https://youtu.be/5ZM5Pyfbvio?si=w9JWDXYzdExnakkL. It’s a great time to watch DNF and Mr. North flirt – albeit in a very eagle way! – as things ramp up. Look for beaking, body brushing, gentle nibbling, footing, and side-by-side perching. More on eagle courtship and bonding here: https://www.raptorresource.org/2024/02/06/bald-eagle-mating-courtship-bonding-copulation-and-other-things-romantic/
January 6, 2025: DNF. Our camera operators noted that she was busy defending her territory. I wouldn’t cross her!
January 9, 2025: A North Nest Neighbor! Note the deer’s thick, wooly winter coat. Much like an eagle’s body feathers, a deer’s coat consists of an outer protective layer and an inner insulative layer. Long, dark, weatherproof guard hairs channel moisture away from the deer’s soft underfur and skin, absorb solar energy, and help reduce energy expenditure. A deer’s thick crinkly underfur is about five times denser than its guard hairs and, like adult down on a bald eagle, traps layers of air, with warmer layers held closer to the skin.
When we’re cold, a specialized muscle at the root of our body hair erects and gives us goosebumps: an involuntary reaction that doesn’t help us very much since we don’t have much body hair. But it works wonderfully for deer, sheep, llamas, caribou, and anything else with a nice coat of fur. Like an eagle puffing up its feathers, the erect fur traps even more air and help deer stay warm even in very cold weather.
January 6, 2025: DNF’s nictitating eyelid. This translucent third eyelid sweeps in from the side to moisten and protect her eye without obscuring her vision. More on eagle eyes here: https://www.raptorresource.org/2025/01/10/eagle-eyes-2/.
January 8, 2025: The fabulous Mr. North! https://youtu.be/K6FpwITM1oM?si=janB0NXrqjBBMNKh. No doubt about it…Mr. North is fabulous!We hope you enjoyed our eagle round-up! Thank you so much for supporting our work.
The Raptor Resource Project