Break out the hot chocolate! Mother Nature turned Decorah, Decorah North, and the Flyway into a snow globe today, shaking things up with two to four inches of powder. While Mom and DM2 and Mr. North and DNF shoveled snow, the eagles on the Flyway enjoyed a snow day! We hope you enjoyed these videos as much as we did. Thanks to our amazing camera operators and videomakers for all their work finding and sharing special moments, and to you for watching them!
Decorah Eagles
November 6, 2019: A snowy day in Decorah
11/06/19: A snowy morning – https://youtu.be/UsFHvtr98gw. Mom and DM2 woke up to a snowy nest this morning. We may not be ready for snow yet, but this is perfect eagle weather – and as pretty as a snow globe! Close-ups start at 9:44 with Mom getting in a little eagle yoga. Like people, eagles need to stretch after a long sit. Yoga is followed by a healthy PS, which is followed by a snowy flyout at 10:13. Closer-ups of DM2 start at 14:02. See the snow on his back? Despite the cold, DM2 is so well-insulated his body heat doesn’t melt the snow. This video by Chickiedee shows much of the same footage, although it concludes with both eagles perched on the maple.
Decorah North Eagles
November 6, 2019: Mr. North and the stick
11/06/19: a deer and a visit to the nest – https://youtu.be/3hB6q56Yl10. A little buck runs by about ten seconds into the video. We see a lot of deer around the North Nest and rut is on, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see more in the weeks to come. The camera operator follows with a really nice tour of the North Valley! Look for snow-covered limbs, a few leaves, and really lovely shots of the stream before Mr. North flies in to start snow removal!
11/06/19: They are back – https://youtu.be/lFgXUTxfxK8! The video opens with Mr. North flying into a very snowy nest. After a pause, he begins walking, leaving prints in the deep snow. The camera pans out and we see DNF perched nearby. Mr. North starts snow removal by scraping in the nestbowl before he starts digging the nest out with DNF. She digs out a stick at 4:40 and the two begin a stick tango. I really enjoyed watching this segment! Sometimes stick tango turns into tug-o-stick, but the two moved in tandem – well, at first – to get the stick where it should go. After a few minutes of work, they both perch on the ladder branch before DM2 flies off, stage left, at 7:28. DNF flies out at 8:59 (slow the video to watch the snow fly – it’s a cool take-off)! The camera operator finds Mr. North (I think) in the snow-frosted spooky tree across the stream.
11/06/19: A difficult stick – https://youtu.be/x0Cb6S79Kz4. Mr. North is carrying a long, straight stick from across the field. He appears to be having a little bit of a hard time with it and eventually drops it. We know that eagles don’t like to come back from Nest Depot with empty talons, but more seriously, they do too much work finding likely sticks, prepping them for removal, and breaking them off a tree to let them go! He begins trying to pick the stick up, but it is much harder to deadlift a stick from the ground than it looks! He eventually gives it up as a lost cause – the stick that got away!
We often get asked how much eagles can carry. It’s a complicated equation, since carrying capacity is affected by winds, flight type (is the eagle flying to gain lift or gliding downwards?), and momentum – just to name a few things! If you’d like to learn more, follow this link: https://www.raptorresource.org/2019/11/06/how-much-weight-can-a-bald-eagle-carry/
Mississippi Flyway
November 6, 2019: An eagle E-Lympiad on the Flyway!
From Sherri Elliott: *Snow Day!*
What kid doesn’t like to pick up whatever it can find for impromptu sledding? A juvie on the Mississippi Flyway plays with a long stick and positions it perfectly for skidding, sledding or snowboarding and has a blast while capturing the attention of some others who want to join the fun. This looks like it could be a new E-lympiad Sport judging by the skills of this youngster!
Thanks to Eaglewhisperer18 for the fun video
https://youtu.be/E2YAKcwIubw. Don’t miss it!
I always played this for my kids when our school district called a snow day: https://youtu.be/0u3XWri8BoU
The Raptor Resource Project