Bird Cams Around the World

Decorah

A pic today. The kids are up on the rails on the very edges of the nest and hopping down. I watched some good hop flaps and lots of wingercising. I would expect branching any day now.

139 pm - Looking very grown up - perching on the nest edges. Everyone in the same places they were yesterday morning...lol.

You may have heard that one of the eaglets "fell" from the branch of the tree. Its OK. Boots on the ground say its way up in the tree.

Thanks catwoman. Wow...I checked on them this morning and saw all three. Here's a video of the fall by LadyHawk and her commentary below. The fall is at 3 min 7 sec into the video. This youngster was antsy and was blocked from moving by a sibling on either side. Looks like the eaglet tried to step over its sibling and lost its footing. Sounds like it hit the ground, but made it back up into an adjacent tree. Glad its OK. As of this evening there were still two on cam, up on the skywalk. I'm sure this youngster will try to join them again.




Lady Hawk
Published on Jun 16, 2018
All three eaglets were on the skywalk branch. The one in the middle turns around and does a little flapping and accidentally falls. There is a thud afterwards as it appears the eaglet went to the ground. From RRP: "Whoops! Some fledges are intentional and others are accidental! An eaglet - we believe it to be D30 based on the lineup - fledged this afternoon at about 2:55pm when it fell from the Skywalk. It is currently perched in a tree right next to the N2B nest tree, and SuperMom is keeping a close eye on things! While we might not be ready for fledge, D30 is 74 days old - on the young side, but still old enough for fledge! We'll keep everyone posted, and we apologize for the brief outage this afternoon. We are glad to be back online! ".

10 pm - Two amigos on the skywalk.

D30 has returned to the nest! The people who were on the cam said he stuck the landing like a real pro!

Woo hoo....that is great news. I looked at the cam this morning and still saw two. I just peaked in and saw three. Back home again. How wonderful!

120 pm

Here's a video of the return of D30. He/she could not wait to rejoin the sibs. Courtesy of LifeMedia.

Decorah

All 3 eaglets have fledged and the new male eagle is OK with the kids flying around his new turf with Mom. Despite the loss of Dad Decorah, Mom successfully raised these 3 youngsters single-handed. The new male helped keep the territory secure while Mom took care of the kids. She did a great job. It's nice to see success for these kids despite losing their father. May they enjoy safe journeys as they embark on their new lives.

1148 am - One of the eaglets snoozing in the nest tree.


225 pm - An eaglet with Mom.

A great report from the Raptor Resource Project FB page:
"SuperMom!
by Sherri Elliott

Okay, I admit it. The person who always tries to dispense the “don’t worry, trust the eagles” mantra was not only worried but profoundly panicked after Dad disappeared and wondered how you would ever manage to feed and care for three 2-week old eaglets all by yourself without your loving partner and life mate. You proved me wrong by completely rewriting the Single Eagle Mom’s Handbook and gave us all new insight into your SuperMom status while completely redefining the attributes of dedication, perseverance, tenacity, devotion, determination, strength and stamina. And in the process over the past 14 weeks, we have an even greater admiration and love for you and your supereagle prowess.

The first few days were painful, watching you look about and plaintively call for Dad. While I don’t want to ascribe or attach our emotions to anthropomorphize, it was obvious that your loss was deep. We watched you diligently redefine your double duties and dote on the dddarlings while using up all the stockpiled smorgasbord of sucker fish, duck, and squirrel in the pantree for three days while also having to defend your nest and your territory from an unwanted interloper, and then you set about to purvey the provisions for yourself and the eaglets.

The first day of grocery shopping on April 23rd was bountiful … a big floppy fish for Breakfish, followed by a young rabbit for Lunch, and a 2-for-1 coupon was used at the hatchery pond hauling home a big fish in each foot for Supper. I knew then you had this and decided to keep a log of the daily deliveries seen on cam. It didn’t matter to me if you ate some or if it was all doled out to the ddd’s … it was a record of your prowess purveying the provisions, and you didn’t disappoint.

From 4-22 through 7-15: Trout & Suckerfish … 470; Squirrels … 4; Rabbits … 2; Pigeon …1; Mystery Meat … 2. There was also 1 mouse not seen on camera, but captured in photos from on-site fans delivered to a hungry eaglet for a tree branch picnic.

Also noteworthy were the multiple days of double-digit deliveries of fish (10, 11, 12) during the ddd’s most demanding developmental times, and a new Decorah record of 16 fish in one day with two deliveries using a doubled 2-for-1 hatchery coupon! Wow!! Also impressive was the fish fledge of 6-7 when an eager eaglet miscalculated and the floppy fish went flying overboard, and not missing a beat, Mom looked below to find it and then went and retrieved it and brought it back in! Another Wow!!

While the totals show an abundance of fish for the ddd’s, there was also various other protein that they ate, and while watching Mom de-feather or de-fur, they imprinted the techniques to unzip to get to the meat of the matter. For those who have worried that they might not know what to do when presented with other prey options, I’ll say … don’t worry … trust the eagles. For the first year, a lot of what they will eat will be carrion, or prey pirated or pilfered from others. They will continue to learn from Mom in Outdoor School, and they will continue to learn from other juveniles, sub-adults, and adults as they expand their horizons after dispersal.

I’m going to continue to document deliveries, and hopefully, it will include footnotes of the eaglets not just finding their own fish as they did after the recent storm waters receded, but also any prey they hunted, fished, purveyed or pilfered on their own. I’ve already heard that all three Juveee’s were walking around the hatchery this morning scoping out how the fish vending machines work, and understand that D31 found his/her own fish there to eat.

Meanwhile, Kudos Mom for what many of us might think is going above and beyond the call of duty when actually this is just your own superpowers you showed this season. Dad would be so proud of your amazing accomplishments just as we are with Decorah’s newest Raptor Force Air Squadron.

Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SuperMom!

** I’m attaching a couple of my favorite videos with thanks to all our wonderful camera operators and video makers:

4-23-18 – Mom brings a fish in each talon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnT3kYZGBDs

6-7-18 - Fish overboard, retrieval: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZp3dvmOr7c&t=42s

6-8 -18 - Fish Gone In One Gulp! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHQqaTPxGNU

6-10-18 – Learning the art of de-feathering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX5Wu6pRTYI

6-13-18 - 6-13-18 Mom serves 3 fish in 5 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoFLRFnRE7Y

7-1-18 - Tug O Fish Then Fish Overboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHoRKzQn404

I love this video of Mom bringing a fish to the kids at the creek bank. D30 or D31 grab it and scurry to the right side with the other in pursuit, while D29 is irritated it lost out and rushes to scold Mom that it got aced out and to go get more! Ha! Mom just leaves!!
7-5-18 - Hanging Out By The Creek At N1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IKro-pccWk&t=0s "

Ferenz

It looks like we have a new male at Decorah. They are calling him UME2. It is not Dad and it is not Decorah male (UME1), who has been with Mom ever since Dad's disappearance in April. This new male is quite intent on nestorations. Both he and Mom are working on last year's nest. Decorah male, who spent more time checking out the old abandoned nest (probably because Mom wouldn't let him land in the current nest), did little in the way of nest work, but was a great defender for Mom while she raised her kids. Mom appears super comfortable with this new guy and they are both working in close proximity to each other, bumping into one another, and giving love nips as they work on the nest. They seem quite bonded. I understand UME2 was first spotted on Oct 15.

Here's an update, Courtesy of the Raptor Resource Project.

Here's a video of some nest work from today. Courtesy of Eagle Cam