Come join us at 10AM CDT on Friday, October 11 for a welcome back chat at Decorah North and Decorah…and visit our regularly scheduled Mississippi Flyway chat at noon the same day! We’ve got lots to talk about and we’re crossing our talons that DNF and Mr. North will show up, especially since they’ve been visiting DNN 3.0!
Mr. North and DNF visit DNN 3.0. So far we’ve seen them pick up a treat we left behind, eat stream-caught trout, and move sticks. Talons crossed that they will continue to approve!
Mississippi River Flyway
While we’re waiting for the Decorah cams to turn on, I’m watching the Mississippi River Flyway. We’re seeing a lot of beautiful birds, sunrises, and sunsets, but I especially enjoyed these videos. If you’d like to read four migration stories, follow this link: https://www.raptorresource.org/2021/10/13/four-migration-stories-from-the-flyway/.
A beautiful Sandhill Crane practices self-care by preening and aligning its feathers.
October 7, 2024: Beautiful sandhill crane preening – https://youtu.be/0mQao-ZAwt8?si=LI9bjFKhg83E-Tdy. Exactly as the video says! Spectacular close-ups of a sandhill crane taking a little ‘me’ time out as it aligns every feather and preens it into tip-top shape!
October 8, 2024: Mississippi Flyway Misty Morning – https://youtu.be/vmQQHX4HmRk?si=Aj4MWTKMT1YQANIP. This video has a little bit of everything: sunrise, mist, and waterfowl in flight. A lovely atmospheric video that invokes early fall in the Driftless region!
A Great Horned Owl on the Flyway.
October 2, 2024: Great Horned Owl – https://youtu.be/9Y7ArMNjN-8?si=gM3NRHCIdl5DotKH. I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about GHO among eagle and falcon watchers. But this is a beautiful GHO and I’m fascinated, as always, to see it so far away from the wooded territory I associate with owls. Birds of the World states that migrating waterfowl might be an especially important resource for some breeding populations and I have to wonder if the same is true for young fledglings who are still learning to fly and hunt skillfully.
October 2, 2024: American Avocet hanging out with the geese – https://youtu.be/GKghPJwvKUM?si=H9v_dE9w6AE4nx8Y. I love American Avocets and will always post video of them. This tiny but mighty little flier might winter as far south as coastal Guatemala, roughly 2000 miles south as the avocet flies! More here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Avocet/lifehistory.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year to see migratory birds on the Mississippi Flyway!
October 1, 2024: Eagle-Palooza, as many as eight! https://youtu.be/4NTz0kmQ55o?si=CDSBcG8ntglPe4lP. Because I know how much our followers love bald eagles! Are DN17 and DN18 with them? Wherever they are, we know they are in good company…or at least eagle company!
The Raptor Resource Project