News and Blogs

The American Kestrels are Back!

April 18, 2024: She went into egg labor late morning...

Fans of micro raptors, rejoice! The kestrel cam is back online and the female has laid three eggs so far. Watch at our website: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/american-kestrels/ or at Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/american-kestrels/. Quick tip for screen shotters! Right-click twice on any youtube video feed on any website or at youtube to take a frame capture. Most awesomely, you can stop the video and right click without getting the video controls in your picture. No more screen captures unless you want

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Cool Eagle News from Fort St. Vrain!

April 18, 2024: 0629-44094, aka Ma FSV. She is 22 years old and fledged from a still active nest about 45 miles east of this one.

We have extremely cool news from Xcel Energy’s Fort St. Vrain plant! Donna Young and Elfruler got Ma FSV’s band number! She is 22-year-old 0629-44094, a single eaglet from a still-active nest about 45 miles east of the Fort St. Vrain site. Why is it important to get band numbers? In this case, it gave us some crucial information about Ma’s longevity and nest of origin. Eagles exhibit philopatry: the tendency of an animal to remain in or return to

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Oh poop shoot! What is bird poop and how do birds poop?

April 16, 2024: Mr. North, DN17, and DN18. It's hard to separate food and metabolic waste when they exit from the same place.

Oh poop shoot! After a long, wet morning snuggled under Mombrella and Poptent, DN17 and DN18 needed to let it fly! Wonderful moments like this inevitably lead to questions and comments like “What is bird poop?” and “Does bird poop stink?” and ‘Ewwww…where did I put those wet wipes?‘ So what is bird poop and how do birds poop? Defecation and Excretion If someone tells us their dog pooped, defecated, or excreted, we know that the dog dropped a solid.

Read more Decorah North Eagles, News

What are feathers? What is molt?

Feather Follicle

Eaglets go through two molts and three feather stages in the nest: natal down (and molt), followed by thermal down (and molt), followed by juvenile feathers. As of this blog, the Decorah North eaglets are shedding the very last of their natal down and their thermal down is rapidly being replaced by juvenile down and feathers. We thought we would blog a little more about feathers to celebrate!  When we think about feathers, we tend to think about their qualities

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April 15, 2024: NestFlix and News From Decorah North, the Trempealeau eagles, and N1

April 15, 2024: Natal down mohawks, thermal down bodies.

Time to Nestflix and chill! At Decorah North, our grey grey tweagles are eating fish tails, sprouting pinfeathers and mohawks, coughing up pellets, and making all of their milestones! At Trempealeau, Mrs. T brings in an impressively large suckerfish and she and Mr. T defend the nest from a barred owl. The geese jumped this morning. Five of the six survived and the little family paddled downstream this morning. Perhaps we’ll see them below N2B or at the hatchery pond!

Read more Decorah Eagles, Decorah North Eagles, News, Trempealeau Eagles

What are HM and HD up to?

April 13, 2024: HD and HM work on their latest nest.

– By John Howe Many of you have been wondering what HM and HD have been up to. Earlier this season they were spending plenty of time in the new nest we referred to as N5. We have not been able to see details of how that nest was doing, but we at believed that they laid eggs and were in incubation mode. In recent weeks, we noticed that they have been perched together for longer periods outside the nest

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Canada Geese: Precocial versus Altricial

April 14, 2024: The last gosling hatches at N1.

As watchers know, Canada geese are nesting in two abandoned bald eagle nests in Decorah, Iowa. N2B – currently a goose nest – is located about 700 feet east of N1, where geese started hatching yesterday. This blog discusses some of the differences between altricial eagles and precocial geese!  Altricial eaglets rely on parental care until they fledge. But goslings are precocial: capable of moving around, self-feeding, and leaving the nest shortly after hatch. What does that mean? Read on

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Your questions, answered: the goslings and the leap of faith

April 28, 2022: A soft place to land!

The goslings in N1 are hatching and we’re getting a lot of questions about the gosling Leap of Faith, which should happen tomorrow or Monday. Will the goslings jump? How will they survive? Are they really ready to leave the nest? Read on for the answers to your questions! Will the goslings really jump? They will!  Watch for The Leap of Faith to happen roughly 24 to 48 hours after hatch. Mother Goose will leave the nest and both parents

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Second-Week Milestones: An Illustrated Book!

April 6, 2024: Day 12 and 13

(More than) an eaglet a day: an illustrated book of DN17 and DN18’s second week of life! Click through the photos to see and read about their milestones and behaviors. Thanks to our camera operators, our moderators, and STLbf on our forum for photos, information, and text! April 4, 2024: Grey thermal down tracts are peeking out between feathery white natal tufts, the eaglets are more alert and aware of their surroundings, and they have enough strength, balance, and coordination

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