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Decorah Eagles and Blogs

May 12, 2023: NestFlix and News, Decorah Edition

May 12, 2023 RaptorResource

DH2 enters its sixth week of life today! During week five, our not-so-little eaglet got better at eating rough pieces of food, self-feeding, standing, and shooting poop. It wingercized unwieldy wings, began building leg and flight muscles as it hopped and stomped, played house, tween-preened the keratin sheaths that covered its emerging wing and tail feathers, and lost the last remnant of its egg tooth on May 10. If DH2 wasn’t sprawling around the nest, it was pestering Mom and

May 8, 2023: What are we looking forward to this week?

May 8, 2023 RaptorResource

What are we looking forward to this week? We’ve got hatch at Great Spirit Bluff, nestling falcons at Alma, Great River Energy, and the Dubuque Courthouse, and some projected big nights on the Mississippi Flyway. Let’s break it down! Great Spirit Bluff Hatch has started at Great Spirit Bluff! Falcons normally begin full incubation after they lay their penultimate egg and it generally takes about thirty-three days from the onset of full incubation to the beginning of hatch. Savanna laid

May 6, 2023: Nestflix and News (with pelicans!)

May 6, 2023 RaptorResource

We have your Saturday NestFlix! HD2 entered its fifth week of life yesterday and hit the standing milestone on Wednesday. Watch out below – projectile pooping is about to enter a new era! We also saw unihemispheric sleep, sweet eagle dreams, an intruder, and DH2 playing ‘house’. What a charming week! On the Mississippi Flyway, we’re enjoying a new Instagrammable log. Pelicans, Caspian terns, cormorants, and bald eagles are all showing up for selfies and videos! We hope you enjoy

Bald Eagle D36 has died

May 5, 2023 RaptorResource

We are beyond sorry to announce that bald eagle D36 has died. Bald eagles die and this isn’t the first time we’ve had to announce it. But this feels especially tragic. For almost the first time since we started tracking eaglets from Decorah back in 2011, we won’t be following one. We started tracking them to answer one of the most common questions that followers asked: ‘Where do the Decorah Eagles go?’. They taught us a whole lot about their

May 2, 2023: NestFlix and News from Decorah and Decorah North!

May 2, 2023 RaptorResource

We have your nestflix! In Decorah, DH2 explores self-feeding and shows us its tiny popping pinfeathers, HD makes a difficult fish delivery, and HM starts a rousing game of limbo with the very wonky stick. DH2 is getting big and it’s time to raise the crib rails! At Decorah North, we see some really interesting grackle behavior. Even if you don’t watch the whole video, I absolutely recommend checking out the song spread – it made me think of courting

From bobble heads to eaglets: Natal down, thermal down, and flight feathers!

May 1, 2023 RaptorResource

As DH2 starts to sprout pinfeathers, we’re getting questions about natal down, thermal down, and juvenile feathers. Unless otherwise stated, the information in this blog applies to altricial birds, although most research in this area has been done on precocial and semi-precocial birds like ducks, geese, and cranes. Altricial and precocial birds have some marked differences in pre-hatch follicular development and post-hatch molts. Natal down, thermal down, and juvenile feathers Does thermal down sprout from natal down pores? Do flight

Eaglet Growth and Development: Week Four

April 28, 2023 RaptorResource

We’re writing a series of blogs about the first few weeks of an eaglet’s life. An eaglet spends roughly 75 to 80 days in the nest. For about the first half, it grows and gains weight. For about the second half, it grows flight feathers and starts developing the skills it will need post-fledge. We will focus on week four in this blog. During week three (fourteen to twenty-one days), DH2 shed most of its natal down, gained a lot

April 20, 2023: Amazing HD!

April 21, 2023 RaptorResource

Rain and hail made it a long morning for HD, who spent most of it protecting DH2 from the weather. His rain-soaked feathers were glossy and slicked with water but – like another wonderful eagle Dad who nested here – he continued his watch. I am in awe as our eagles once again show us what they will endure to protect their offspring. Eagles are incredible! Decorah Eagles April 20, 2023: HD spectacular wind-complicated landing, beautiful fly-off from Y –

April 18, 2023: A mega-movie raptor roll!

April 18, 2023 RaptorResource

We’ve got your mega-movie raptor roll and some feeding observations! Still worried about DH2? As of yesterday, the little peaglet had been fed an incredible 84 times. HM did the most feedings (71 to HD’s 13) while HD provided most of the meals (38 to HM’s 2). As the first video shows, HM and DH2 have dialed feeding in! I also enjoyed the near miss with a PS (the hazards of being an eagle parent!), the lovely looks at DH2

Sweet Eagle Dreams!

April 14, 2023 RaptorResource

This blog on eagle sleep was first published in 2017. We’ve recorded adult eagles dreaming, but this is the first time we’ve captured it in an eaglet. In addition to what appears to be dreaming, look for preening, earholes (the dark holes behind and below DH2’s eyes) and the remnants of DH2’s egg tooth, which is already rubbing away. Do Bald Eagles Dream? Do bald eagles dream? Some footage of DH2, the seven-day-old hatchling in Decorah, got us discussing this

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