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Fort St. Vrain Eagles and Blogs

February 13, 2023: What are we looking forward to this week?

February 13, 2023 RaptorResource

What are we looking forward to for the week of February 13? Tick-tock egg-clock, everybody…we’re getting egg-cited! Eggs at Decorah North. DNF laid her first egg on February 16th in 2021 and 2022. Will we have a three-peat this year? It seems possible, especially since the two appear to be working on an egg cup: https://youtu.be/ODY5bU10M6s (we get a nice view of the cup at around one minute in). HM and HD have finally gotten their groove on! We don’t

Bald eagle mating: Courtship, bonding, copulation, and other things romantic!

February 8, 2023 RaptorResource

Love is in the nest! This is a traditional Valentines Day post for us, but after HD and HM copulated this morning, we thought we would post it in celebration. Bald eagle courtship Bald eagles are famous for their whirling nuptial flight, but eagle courtship includes any activities that establish a new pair bond or renew an existing one. At our Decorah, Decorah North, and Fort St. Vrain nests, courtship usually begins in early October. Bonded pairs start working on

January 30, 2023: NestFlix and News from Decorah, Decorah North, and Fort St. Vrain

January 30, 2023 RaptorResource

We saw a lot of visiting eagles arrive late last week as subzero temperatures and storms pushed eagles into northeast Iowa. Many bald eagles winter in the same place every year, but others behave more like irruptive migrants as they wander the landscape in search of open water and easily available food. Extremely cold weather and serious snowfall push wanderers south – much to the chagrin of residents who aren’t excited about hungry visitors near their nests! The interlopers kept

How do eagles stay warm in cold weather?

January 27, 2023 RaptorResource

Each species experiences the world differently and eagles have capacities that are far different from ours. How do Bald Eagles survive an Iowa winter without adaptive clothing and central heat? A cold January morning coated our eagles in frost and left watchers wondering how Bald Eagles survive an Iowa winter. In general, wintering animals – including humans – need to retain body heat, stay dry, and take in enough calories to support winter’s increased energy demands. We humans put on

What is a brood patch?

January 24, 2023 RaptorResource

Daylight length, or photoperiod, strongly influences hormone production in birds. In the northern hemisphere, our story begins shortly after the winter solstice in December. As daylight length increases, a cascade of hormones causes birds’ gonads to swell in preparation for reproduction, egg-laying, and incubation. In this blog, we’ll discuss the role the brood patch plays in incubation and determining clutch size. How do bald eagles keep their eggs warm in subzero temperatures? They apply heat via a special area of

The Neighborhood Watch: Alarm Calls

January 10, 2023 RaptorResource

On Saturday of January 7, we watched HM and HD respond to alarm calls issued by the local neighborhood crow watch. Alarm calls convey information with pitch, volume, bandwidth, repetition, duration, inflection, and sound. Most of us are familiar with a chickadee’s ‘chick-a-dee-dee-dee’ alarm call: a social signal that tells other chickadees to rally in the vicinity of the predator – usually a perched bird of prey – and join in a chorus or mob of calling. The number of

Tick-tock egg clock! Date guesstimates all around our nests.

January 5, 2023 RaptorResource

Tick-tock egg clock! Okay, it’s a little early to start counting the minutes, but here are the days we’ve penciled into our planners for first eggs, first falcons, and ice-out on the Mississippi River Flyway. Get your (RRP) calendars out and feel welcome to make your own best guesstimates. Eggs will be here before we know it! Decorah North I’m saving the afternoon of February 16th for DNF’s first egg! She’s been a remarkably consistent layer date and timewise, although

November 30, 2022: NestFlix, News, and Photos: Decorah, Decorah North, Xcel Fort St. Vrain, and the Flyway!

November 30, 2022 RaptorResource

We’ve got a short, sweet NestFlix round up from all of our eagle nests tonight! The Decorah and Xcel Fort St. Vrain eagles were busy with nest work today, while the Norths took a break to stretch their wings and do a little bit of soaring. We hope that you enjoy these NestFlix as much as we did! Thanks so much for donating to our Giving Tuesday fundraiser yesterday! We’ll have images and links for you tomorrow. Decorah Eagles November

On Migration

October 24, 2022 RaptorResource

At whatever moment you read these words, day or night, there are birds aloft in the skies of the Western Hemisphere, migrating. If it is spring or fall, the great pivot points of the year, then the continents are swarming with billions of traveling birds… – Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds We get a lot of questions about migration. Do the Decorah eagles migrate? Do our Peregrine falcons migrate? Where do they go when they

Eaglet Growth and Development: Week One

March 27, 2022 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 hatching? Like humans, growing eaglets have developmental milestones.

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