Raptor Resource Project
June 26, 2014"Which eaglet is which?" we're being asked on ustream, facebook, in our forum, and via email. We would usually have answered this question by now, but it's been a very unusual and busy year for all of us. Once we had a little breathing room, all of us got together and went over the photographs that have poured in since the eaglets began to re-appear following the difficult fledge that began on June 18.
There is no one I would trust to help ID more than our wonderful moderators on Ustream and Facebook. From awesome daily 12-hour chats, and through wonderful Whatta's, our combined hours of detailed observation reach well into the thousands. However, I need to stress that these ID's are not cast in stone. Bob doesn't tend to ID without a highly unusual physical feature or (preferably) a band number. Fortunately, our not-so-little fledglings have features that provide us with a few clues to their identity. Without further ado, we believe that D19 has the transmitter, D20 is at SOAR, and D18 is the prodigal mulch pile baby who has "found us again", and we'll be switching to referring to them that way this afternoon. We initially believed that D20 had the transmitter, but the information and photos that have surfaced since make it clear that isn't the case.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Raptor-Resource-Project/103786266324668D19 has the transmitter
D20 is at SOAR with broken wing
D18 found on mulch pile, photos on RRP fb Injured Decorah eagle prepped for surgery
Jun 25, 2014 DECORAH (KWWL) - Interview with Bob Anderson
It's been a rough year for the Decorah eagles.
The three eaglets recently fledged and left the nest, but something was wrong.
“Usually they'll fly maybe to that tree there and then fly back to the nest,” said Bob Anderson, Director of the Raptor Resource Project in Decorah. “They're not doing that this year.”
When the eaglets left, they stayed away. Anderson said the problem is probably the overwhelming gnat infestation.
“The birds were just perpetually twitching,” he said. “I mean, I would have gone mad, I would have gone absolutely insane, and I think a lot of birds did. It might have even delayed their development a little bit because they were just so compromised, so stressed out.”
Anderson said even though the eaglets have reached their full size by the time they leave the nest, and have a wingspan of over 6 feet, they're still very vulnerable until one year of age.
“Maybe
50 percent, 40 percent survive the first year,” he said. “Once they survive the first year, there's a much higher survivability.”
Now, two of the young birds are doing fine, but a third was found this week with a broken wing. Caretakers plan to repair it in surgery Friday, but its future is still very uncertain. Reintroducing the bird to the wild could take more than a year.
Anderson said there's a lesson here for eagle watchers.
“It's the ultimate reality show,” he said. “It show the wonder and the cruelty of nature. People saw the parents trying to keep eggs from freezing at 20 degrees below zero. They saw the parents trying to shelter the babies in driving snow and pouring rain … It's not Disney-fied. It's the real world. And for that reason, it shows life in its reality, and I think that's good.”
http://www.kwwl.com/story/25873288/2014/06/25/injured-decorah-eagle-prepped-for-surgery
Login
Register
FAQ
