Decorah North Bald Eagle Cam - Raptor Resource Project (2024)

FAQs

What happened to the Decorah Eagles? ›

DECORAH, Iowa —

Heavy rain and weak tree limbs led to the collapse of the Decorah North eagle nest over the weekend. Leaders with the Raptor Resource Project said branches the nest was built on were deteriorating and the tree was dying, so the collapse was bound to happen.

Visiting Decorah to see the eagles? Please read through our guide to eagle etiquette >> Bald Eagle Etiquette. Female eagles are larger than male eagles, with slightly darker heads and more pronounced brows. The image below shows the differences in appearance between HM and HD and should help in ID'ing them.

How many young do the Decorah Eagles have at once? Bald eagles typically have two eggs per year, but sometimes one or three. Both parents will incubate the eggs and after the eggs hatch, at least one parent will stay with the young at all times.

The DC Eagle cam is arguably the most well-known cam, which features a mating pair dubbed Mr. President and First Lady. The bald eagle pair are found in the city of Washington DC itself, in a nest made at the top of a poplar tree located within the US National Arboretum.

Although they primarily eat fish and carrion, bald eagles used to be considered marauders that preyed on chickens, lambs, and domestic livestock. Consequently, the large raptors were shot in an effort to eliminate a perceived threat. Coupled with the loss of nesting habitat, bald eagle populations declined.

In the mid-1900s, our national symbol was in danger of extinction throughout most of its range. Bald eagles were decimated by habitat destruction and degradation, as well as illegal shooting and the contamination of their food source by the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, known as DDT.

Q: How can you distinguish between adult male and female bald eagles? A: Visually, they look identical, but as with most raptors, the female is larger (heavier and bigger) than the male. Sometimes this is clearly visible in a pair, when you see both together at the nest, but otherwise, we are just guessing.

The eaglets fledge — take their first flights — in mid to late June and usually leave the nest between August and October. Adults remain in the area year-round. Eagles eat fish, squirrels, other birds, rabbit, muskrat, deer, possum and anything else they can catch or find.

Adult. In flight, Golden Eagles have smaller heads and seemingly longer tails than Bald Eagles. Goldens have solid inner wing linings, while juvenile Bald Eagles have mottled wing linings. They also soar with wings slightly raised, whereas Bald Eagles fly on straight wings.

If we assume that a female eagle begins nesting at age 5, and lives until she is 25, she will have 20 years of egg-laying. There is no evidence that a healthy eagle reduces egg-laying as she gets older. So 2 eggs/year X 20 years = 40 eggs in her lifetime.

Do eagles ever lay 4 eggs? ›

Bald Eagle Egg Laying Facts

The female usually lays a clutch of two eggs, though she can lay as many as four. She incubates the eggs for about 40 days by sitting on the nest to keep them warm.

It is nine feet long at its longest point, seven feet wide at its widest point, is about 5.5 feet high, and has a perimeter of roughly 25 feet.

Male and female bald eagles mate for life, only finding a new mate if theirs dies, and lay from one to three eggs a year. Juvenile bald eagles are dark brown with white mottling, and don't develop their iconic white head and tail until they are four to five years old.

Jackie and Shadow will eventually leave the eggs behind, as they did last year when their two eggs didn't hatch, McClatchy News reported. “Jackie and Shadow and their journey are still here,” she said.

Bald eagles are opportunistic foragers but prefer fish as their primary food and are found in great densities where fish are abundant. They also eat sea birds and ducks or hunt over grasslands and marshes for small mammals such as rabbits, squirrels, prairie dogs and muskrats.

About the Eagles

The Decorah North eagles are nesting on private property north of Decorah, Iowa. Their nest is located in a white oak tree in a scrap of forest bordering a valley.

Unfortunately, both eaglets succumbed to the Avian Influenza and prematurely ended the season. This nesting season we have new residents – two Great Horned Owls. THE GHOs are known for taking over existing nests. Now The Eagle CAM is the Raptor CAM as we have seen eagles, ospreys and owls in the nest.

DDT was banned in 1972 and the bald eagle was officially listed as endangered in 1978, allowing their recovery to take off. Over the next 20 years, the population rebounded — and in 1995 the species' was removed from the endangered species list entirely.

The Eagle's Nest was not hit during the airstrike on 25^th April 1945 and still exists in its original form today. Its name was coined by a French diplomat who supposedly gave the building the nickname “Eagle's Nest”. Today, the building is used as a mountain inn.