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Tag Archives: FAQ

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

Eaglet Growth and Development: Week Four

April 28, 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 four in this blog. During week three (fourteen to twenty-one days), DH2 shed most of its natal down, gained a lot

Eaglet Growth and Development: Week Three

April 25, 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 three in this blog. DH2 turns 18 days old today. During week two (seven to 14 days), its footpads and talons

Canada Geese: Precocial versus Altricial

April 21, 2023 RaptorResource

As watchers know, Canada geese are nesting in an abandoned bald eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa. N2B – currently a goose nest – is located about 700 feet east of N1, where HM and HD are nesting. We believe that hatch will begin on or around Saturday, April 22. You can watch that nest here; https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-goose-cam/. This blog discusses some of the differences between altricial eagles and precocial geese! Altricial eaglets rely on parental care until they fledge. But goslings

Eaglet Growth and Development, Week Two

April 18, 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 two in this blog. In their second week of development, eaglets gain roughly two pounds, experience rapid growth in features like

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,

Your Questions, Answered: DH1 and DH2

April 11, 2023 RaptorResource

Followers had a lot of questions about eaglet DH1 and DH2. Why did DH1 die? Are HD and HM first-time parents? What did the eagles do with DH1? Here’s what we know. Why did DH1 die? DH1 hatched at 4:10 AM on April 5th and died some time between about 7 PM and 12:20 AM. The day was cold and rainy, the eagles tucked a large dead trout into the egg cup, and DH1 was not fed in its first

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

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