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Fort St. Vrain Eagles and Blogs

On Migration

September 5, 2023 RaptorResource

Keep your eyes on the Flyway! Birdcast predicts a heavy night for September 5th and 6th in the area of the Flyway. Listen for nocturnal migrants at night and look for nocturnal and diurnal migrants resting and feeding during the day.

2023 Xcel Energy Fort St. Vrain Recap

August 14, 2023 RaptorResource

– By Lisa Levesque. Thanks so much to Lisa and the Fort St. Vrain fans for their detailed observations and support! In December of 2022, Ma and Pa returned to the nest area. January brought some nestorations and quite a few migrating visitors. February really ramped up with the plans for eggs. Rails were built up high and lots of grasses brought in. The first egg was laid on March 2, 2023 at 6:14pm, the 2nd on March 5 at

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

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

Eaglet Growth and Development: Week One

April 12, 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 one in this blog. What can we expect in the first week following hatch? Like humans, a growing eaglet has developmental

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,

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

Monday. March 13: NestFlix and News

March 13, 2023 RaptorResource

Ma FSV laid her third egg at Xcel Energy’s Fort St. Vrain nest on Thursday, March 8, which brings the total number of eggs in our nests to six: three at FSV, two in Decorah, and one at Decorah North. DNF and Mr. North’s lone egg is 21 days old, HM and HD’s two eggs are 16 and 13 days old, and Ma and Pa Jrs eggs are eleven, eight, and four days old! Here’s a peek at what’s going

Peek inside a bald eagle egg: 11 days!

March 6, 2023 RaptorResource

What do embryonic 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 not all bald eagle eggs hatch in 35 days, the stages of development look something like this… What happens between the third and the 11th day? When we last touched on the topic, our embryonic eagle had

March 6, 2023: What are we looking forward to this week?

March 6, 2023 RaptorResource

Another Egg for Ma FSV? As of this post, we have one egg at Decorah North (hatch estimated on or around March 28), two eggs in Decorah (hatch estimated on or around April 4), and two eggs at Fort St. Vrain (hatch estimated on or around April 10). Ma usually lays three eggs, so it’s possible she could lay again on March 9th. Are the geese going to lay eggs again? We’ve seen them checking out N2B, but HD doesn’t

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