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Decorah Eagles Posting is a privilege, not a right. Click this link for our chat rules. Camera Operators Eagle Links The Raptor Resource Project Established in 1988, the non-profit Raptor Resource Project specializes in the preservation of falcons, eagles, ospreys, hawks, and owls. We establish and strengthen breeding populations of these raptors by creating, improving, and maintaining nests and nest sites. In addition to directly managing over 40 falcon, eagle, and owl nest sites, we provide training in nest site creation and management across the United States, reach more than 85,000 people each year through lectures, education programs, and our website, and develop innovations in nest site management and viewing that bring people closer to the world around them. Our mission is to preserve and strengthen raptor populations, to expand participation in raptor preservation, and to help foster the next generation of preservationists. Our work deepens the connection between people and the natural world, bringing benefits to both. Summary of 2011 Nesting Season Video and Multimedia Resources
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BREAKING NEWS
May 22, 2012, 9 AM CDT
The Raptor Resource Project plans to trap and fit a transmitter to one of the Decorah eaglets this year. As we did last year, we will wait until the eaglets have been on the wing for a few weeks before attempting to trap one of them. This assures that the eaglet's flight muscles will be fully developed and the transmitter will fit properly. We work with an experienced biologist to trap and attach the transmitter. For more about the transmitter and our decision and methodology, please read this blog post: 2012 Transmitter Decisions. We want to know how similar this eaglet's behavior will be to that of its HY (Hatch Year) 2011 sibling D1. We know that D1 makes long flights, has a pronounced affinity for rivers, and enjoys the company of other eagles. A longitudinal study will give us more depth and information about the behavior of Iowa's Bald eagles and help identify what they need to survive and thrive in the wild.
Posting in SS is a privilege, not a right. Our Social Stream rules are:
RRP Social Stream (SS) is a lightly moderated room, which means that you are responsible for your own words. Posters set the tone for the room - a friendly, eaglecentric place. Because it is lightly moderated, posters need to exercise a higher degree of individual responsibility and self discipline in their posts; posters are self moderating.
Moderators’ prime function is to provide troll protection, although they can also delete inappropriate posts and ban disruptive and abusive chatters when appropriate. Please note: Moderators (Mods) will not always be in SS 24/7. To provide feedback or to contact us regarding Social Stream, please email socialstream@raptorresource.org
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Questions of the Week
When will they fly?
Learning to fly is a process. They are currently wingercizing. This entails flapping their wings and hopping. Late in the wingercizing phase, a gust of wind will lift them accidentally, and they will hover over the nest because their muscles are strong enough to hold their wings in the correct position and their flight feathers are long enough to sustain the lift.
Branching comes after that. Branching is defined as a small hop and lift onto the closest branch. Unless there is a panner present at the time, we will not see this first very small journey away from the nest to the branch.
Fledge or first self-propelled flight away from and back to the nest tree comes last.
The whole process last 10-13 weeks.
Why do the eaglets so often sit at the dangerous edge of the nest looking out rather than stay more safely in the bowl?
An eagle lives by perusing the landscape in the hunt for prey, and eaglets have the instinct to do this at an early age, as soon as their eyes can focus and see long distances. It would be abnormal for them not to go up to the edge of the sticks surrounding the bowl and look out. Also by instinct eaglets almost never will wander beyond the sticks, so they are not in danger of falling out.
Are the eaglets safe when the parents are not in the nest, especially at night?
Perfectly safe. One or both parents will roost on branches nearby and can fly to the nest in an instant if necessary.
What is a pellet?
At about 4 weeks of age the eaglets begin eating all parts of the prey including bones, scales, fins, fur, feathers, teeth, etc. Indigestible parts are compressed into a pellet that the eagle then casts back up out of the mouth. An eagle might cast a pellet once a day, usually before eating.
Questions of Last Week
What is a pin feather?
A pin feather is the beginning of a new feather from a follicle under the skin. As the feather forms, its shaft (calamus or quill) has a vein and artery running up through it with a blood supply to nourish the growing feather, hence the term "blood" feather. A waxy sheath from the follicle surrounds the feather and will be sloughed off or the eaglet will pull it off once the new feather is formed. The feather's barbs unfurl and "zip" together with tiny hooklets called barbules, the blood supply recedes, the shaft turns white and remains hollow, and the feather is ready for action.
Here is an excellent description of feathers and how they form.
Also see this RRP blog.
Do the pin feathers itch?
What looks to us like scratching is not in response to an itch, it is preening, which all birds do by instinct. They run their beaks down and up the length of each feather, removing dirt and parasites, and smoothing and realigning the barbs which helps keep the barbules hooked together. Preening also helps remove the keratin sheath in which the new feather forms. Nest-mates sometimes preen each other (called “allopreening”), especially on the head where an eagle cannot preen itself.
What are the different types of feathers on an eagle?
All of the outer feathers that give a bird its distinctive shape and coloring are contour feathers (in contrast to the downy feathers underneath). The first contour feathers to form are the remiges, the flight feathers on the posterior (lower) edges of the wings, and the rectrices, flight feathers at the tip of the tail. A bald eagle has 18 remiges on each wing (10 "primaries" or pinions and 8 "secondaries") and 12 rectrices on the tail. Layered over the bases of the remiges and rectrices are the coverts, which are arranged in rows or "tracts" kind of like shingles on a roof. Bristles are feathers without barbs that grow around the beak, eyes, and nares.
Further descriptions of types of feathers can be found on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site and on this site.
If you do a search on “bald eagles” in the Common Name box on this site provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service you will find photographs of remiges, rectrices, and coverts of juvenile and adult bald eagles.
Now that the eaglets can thermoregulate, when will they be waterproof?
Once the new contour feathers are fully formed and covering their bodies, the barbules on the feathers will zip together and form a water repellent shield. Until then, if it rains the parents will continue to cover the eaglets as well as they can.
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Use these email addresses to provide feedback or to contact RRP.
moderatedchat@raptorresource.org
socialstream@raptorresource.org
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2012 Egg Laying and Hatching Record
EGG! We have EGG! at 7:47 PM CST Feb 17th. Thanks to elf we also have video.
2012 First Egg Feb 17th
Hatching 3-27-12 D12 Arrives!
Second egg arrived Feb 20th at 9:06 PM CST. Video of the process.
2012 Second Egg Feb 20th
Hatching 3-28-12 D13's Process
Third egg arrived Feb 24th at 8:05 PM CST
Video of third egg!
Hatching 3-31-12 Emergence of D14!
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Non-Toxic Fishing Tackle
Fishing opener is here (or almost here, depending on your state). We are encouraging people to use non-toxic alternatives to lead tackle. We sent several eagles to S.O.A.R last year with lead poisoning. Wildlife face a lot of dangers we can't do anything about, but this one we can! For information about lead-free fishing, check out:
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D1 Update: 05/23/12
D1 continues to explore Canada! For more details, go to http://www.raptorresource.org/maps/latest.php
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The camera operators are Bob, Jim, Charlie, David, and Willard.
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The following websites provide good information about bald eagles:
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Eggs laid
Hatches
Fledges
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Several active fans have captured videos from this cam, including:
The Decorah eagle nest was featured in a PBS Nature series program, “American Eagle,” that premiered in November 2008. Filmed by cinematographers Robert Anderson and Neil Rettig in high-definition, the video is available on DVD and online.
Raptor Force is another great video. It will show how raptors fly. Raptor Force
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Frequently Asked Questions
- 12A How high is the nest? About 80 feet.
- 12B How big is the nest? About 6 feet across, about 5 feet deep; it weighs close to 1367 lb.
- 12C How old is the nest? The eagles built it in 2007. A previous nest close by fell when a windstorm broke one of the branches.
- 12D Which is the male and which is the female? It is hard to tell the difference unless they are both on the nest. The female is larger than the male. This female has an arched ridge above her eyes that goes further back than on the male, and her eyes are surrounded by a greyish shadow; the ridge above the male’s eye is shorter and seems a little closer to the eye. The male has a line around his eyes that makes them look “beady,” and his head looks “sleeker” than the female’s.
Here's a bigreddiggy video from last year about the differences. mom and dad differences - 12E What is the history of this male and female?
They have been together since the winter of 2007-2008. Her markings at that time indicated that she was about 4 years old. They successfully hatched and fledged 2 eaglets in 2008, 3 in 2009, 3 in 2010, and 3 in 2011. - 12F How did they capture D1?
Here's a link to how it happened. The Capture of D1 - 12G What is the area around the nest like? The nest is in a cottonwood tree on private property near the Decorah Fish Hatchery (operated by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources), on the banks of the babbling waters of Trout Run in extreme northeast Iowa. The nest can be seen from the hatchery, but visitors to the hatchery should keep their distance from the nest tree, both to respect the private property where the tree is located and to avoid disturbing the eagles. Here is a ground-level video of the surroundings, taken in March 2010. This video shows the eagles’ point of view.
Here is a slide show of the cam installation in fall 2009.
12H Why are the eaglets called D12, D13, and D14?
Everyone has been anticipating the way to reference the 2012 Decorah eaglets. The first place will be D for the Decorah, Iowa, nest site. Numbers beginning with 12 will follow the D. Each successive year will continue on from the previous year.
We use nomenclature for the following reasons:
D identifies the nest site – Decorah, Iowa
Traditional names can create an undue tendency to anthropomorphize. While the human emotion that may be attached to the eaglets is understandable, an alpha-numeric system for referencing them may help us distance ourselves to observe the wonder of wildlife and nature at work.
Beginning at 12 honors the 11 known successful fledges at the nest.
This reference system will allow RRP to integrate their findings more easily with other researchers.
This will be easily continued from year to year.
For the 2012 nesting season, we will refer to the first egg to hatch as D12. The second is D13. The third is D14.
Here is a slide show of the cam installation in fall 2009.
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