Raptor Resource Project: Bald Eagle and Bird of Prey Cams

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Decorah North Eagles and Blogs

2023 North Nest Recap

August 8, 2023 RaptorResource

The 2023 season was a tough one for the North Nest. While Mr. North and DNF started well, we documented at least five adult and subadult intruders between February 20th and March 20th. They followed Mr. North to the nest, perched in nearby trees, flew by the nest, attempted to steal food, and generally disturbed nesting activities. On February 23 – the day that DNF would normally have laid her second egg – she spent much of the day chasing

August 6, 2023: Cam Shutdown Announcement

August 6, 2023 RaptorResource

What a season 2023 was! We cheered HM, HD, and DH2; celebrated and mourned at Great Spirit Bluff; crossed our fingers for the Decorah North eagles (if one eagle could have incubated an egg all by himself, Mr. North would have done it); and were enthralled by the beautiful birds, turtles, flowers, frogs, and sunrises and sunsets on the Flyway. But the end of the summer is almost here and we need to take our usual fall break for cam

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 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

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

Bald eagle tongues and beaks!

April 11, 2023 RaptorResource

We know that bird beaks are specialized for feeding and daily tasks. Birds of prey have strong, curved beaks with sharp edges to help them tear meat. Falcons specialize even further, adding a tomial tooth to help them kill prey. Dabbling ducks have tiny, comb-like structures on their beaks to strain small animals, insects, and plants from water and mud, while piscivorous ducks have saw-like structures to help them hold on to struggling fish. But what about bird tongues or,

March 28, 2023: What are we looking forward to this week?

March 28, 2023 RaptorResource

What are we looking forward to this week? Eggs, eggs, eggs! We have four eggs at Dairyland Power’s Alma plant, at least one egg at Great River Energy’s Elk River campus, and eggy falcons at Minnesota Power’s Hibbard plant and three other sites that aren’t online. We don’t know how many eggs Mother Goose will lay, but she’s laid four so far and should be going into full incubation soon. We’re also looking forward to hatch in Decorah (our estimate

Peek inside a bald eagle egg: 24 days!

March 24, 2023 RaptorResource

There are two eagle eggs in Decorah trout hatchery nest N1. DH1 is about 27 days old and DH2 is about 25 days old. What do they look like? Let’s take a peek! What do embyronic eagles look they look like as they develop and grow inside their eggs? Dr. Peter Sharpe from the Institute for Wildlife Studies developed a table of bald eagle embryonic development based on work done by Hamburger and Hamilton (1951). While this animation uses a chicken

The Norths’ egg has broken

March 24, 2023 RaptorResource

The Norths’ lone egg broke on March 21 at about 3:00 PM. We posted about the lone egg and intraspecific intruders at the North nest on March 16: https://www.raptorresource.org/2023/03/16/nest-guarding-and-intraspecific-intrusions/. Given that the egg wasn’t viable, this is good news. It is early enough that the North’s might be able to reclutch/recycle. The two have been nestorating and copulating, and Mr. North has been bringing food gifts. We’ll see what happens!