Eagle Update

The Decorah eagles have been doing lots of nestorations in preparation for another season of parenthood. With the onset of longer days they are on schedule to lay the first egg in the latter half of February.

This season, though, there is a slight hitch: a pair of Great Horned Owls, who generally do not construct their own nests, but use one already built, have set their sights on the current and planned nest of our Decorah Eagles. Mom and Pop Eagle have chased off the interlopers in the middle of the night at least once. As you can imagine, things are a bit tricky, with owls being nocturnal and eagles being diurnal. So it's up in the air :) who will lay claim to the nest by laying the first egg.

It's fun to see the owls. Here's one of them on Feb. 1 nestling into the recent snow, getting comfortable.

If you enjoy watching eagles on webcam, here's a link to the Southwest Florida Eagle webcams.

Thanks to Judy for alerting me to this pair of eagle parents. Being in a more southerly location, breeding season started much earlier than in northeast Iowa and the pair laid 2 eggs just after Christmas. Both hatched, but then, for an unknown reason, one of the chicks died. The beauty of this site is that there are 2 cams so it's interesting to watch both.

Here's  a screenshot of breakfast this morning.