Turkey Vultures and Blogs

NestFlix and News: Decorah North, Decorah, the Flyway, and the Turkey Vultures!

August 15, 2022: DN16 dries her wings on a misty morning in the rolling green hills of NE Iowa.

DN15 and DN16 turn 141 and 142 days old today! We last saw DN15 on August 9. While it’s still possible he could return – we’ve seen multiday walkabouts prior to final dispersal – it seems less likely with every day that passes. It feels like the dog days of summer to us, but we’re starting to see pre-migratory flocking and winter preparation: seed-eating flocks of passerine birds (hemp seeds are an excellent source of fat), browsing bucks with lovely

We have Turkey Vulture hatch!

May 27, 2021: Turkey Vulture hatch!

Both turkey vulture nestlings have arrived! Bit #1 hatched on April 26 at around 5:00 AM CDT, while Bit #2 arrived on April 27 at around 1:00 PM CDT. They are the third and fourth turkey vulture to hatch since we began watching. You can watch them live here: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/missouri-turkey-vultures/. If you’d like to watch what we can see of hatch, check out chickiedee’s first and second hatch videos: https://youtu.be/L3wYh-etbL0 and https://youtu.be/L3wYh-etbL0. Eagles and falcons feed their young chunks of

April 21, 2021: Nestflix and news from Decorah North and Marshall!

April 20, 2021: DN13 is standing on its own two feet!

What’s going on around our nests? At Decorah North, DN13 and DN14 are 26 and 24 days old, and growing by leaps and bounds! Remember our post on development in the third week? We’ve seen all of it – rapidly growing eaglets, pinfeathers and tracts of coverts pushing through natal down (squeeee!), expertly synchronized pooping, pellet casting, parent imitation, and – fanfare! – standing on their own two feet! Mr. North has to watch his toes when he’s dropping food

April 7, 2021: Clown Clompers and Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

April 7, 2021: DN13's New Clown Clompers!

Do you like eaglet clown clompers? We love them! DN13 and DN14 seem to have gone from little dandelion bobbleheads to great big clown clompers almost over night. Their gray wooly thermal down is coming in, their little wings are sporting feather fringes, and they are flexing their rapidly growing feet and tiny talons. Motoring is limited to crawling, but they manage to explore outside the nest cup and find new places to hike outside the confines of the parental

March 29, 2021: Nestflix from Decorah North, Great Spirit Bluff, and Marshall, MO!

March 29, 2021: D14 and D13

Kick back – it’s time for NestFlix! At Decorah North, D13 and D14 are growing like weeds and eating like pee-glets. The two will go from about 3.2 ounces to roughly 16 ounces or one pound in just seven days, which takes a lot of food! At just three and four days old, the tiny terrors are rapidly gaining strength and coordination, and of course the beak-bonking battles have begun. Look for this behavior to get a little worse as