Mary, great capture! A very curious raccoon, looking around.



Video: Mysterious Shadows at Decorah

A fierce wind shakes the leaves and blows down a branch. Mysterious shadows move across the nest. They look like leaping fish, but I think they may be winged insects flying in front of the cam.

Recorded at 5 PM local time

wonder if that is one of the raccoons that visited before the eggs were laid. Looks well fed. Hopefully it will just stay away and not make this a frequent inspection point.

Well THAT'S different!!! I never even thought about racoons visiting, though of course it makes sense. Mom & Dad may need to spend some nights in the nest so this little guy doesn't get too comfortable hanging out there!

Here is a wonderful YouTube video by chatter chico from earlier today...Mom is very busy being her usual "I'm the boss" self!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3SJwp7dXQM

This message is from our "Bob the zoomer" here on the Decorah nest. He's not sure if it's one of our juvies from this nest...only that it's injured and was near the nest.....more later!



"A few hours ago I received a call from Dave K who had heard that an injured bald eagle was on the side of Old Stage Road on the east side of Decorah, not too far from the hatchery nest. I raced over to the site and found two people that had pulled over and were keeping an eye on the injured juvenile. The bird ran down an embankment when I went to grab it. I had to scramble down a steep slope and was able to capture the it. With the help of the one of the people who had stopped, I was able to work my way back up to the road carrying the injured eagle. I was greeted by two very nice sheriffs who had contacted the local Game Warden. The warden told them them that they do not re-hab injured eagles anymore. This is not true. There are many re-hab projects, and the wardens are supposed to shuttle injured eagles to them.

I called Laura J (a project friend who is also a veterinarian) and she suggested that I take the bird to my house and put it in a darkened mews to see if it will recover on its own. The same guy who helped me get the bird back up the embankment drove my car while his father followed. Just as we were nearing Locust Road the eagle barfed up all of its crop of road-killed raccoon - all over my clothes and car!

I put the eagle in the dark mews and am calling regional raptor centers."

This is not D1 or her parents. We don't know whether or not it was one of the other Decorah eaglets. We will keep you posted. I don't know if this is the exact spot, but here is a link to a map of the general area: http://g.co/maps/24bcf.

How nice to hear how well the eagles take care of there babies, in regards to the three and one being much younger, and mom feed them according to there age, we sure can learn a lot from watching and learning about the Bald Eagles,

Catusflower

It was wonderful, catusflower, to watch the adults look at their three chicks in 2009 and feed the big ones at the edge of the nest - where week-old chicks could go - and then do two little feedings in the next half hour for the tiny one in the nest bowl while the big chicks were napping.

Mary - please keep us posted when/if there are additional updates from Bob. Were all three Decorah eaglets banded? Must admit there are so many nests online these days that I get them confused at times.

Sending good thoughts to the young one, whoever he or she may be. And thanks to Bob - and to the people who helped him get the juvie to a safe spot.

JudyB....The only eaglet that was banded from the Decorah nest this year was the one now called D1. She was banded when they caught her to put the transmitter on her. Bob decided it would be too difficult to catch and band the other two.



Our wonderful parents spent a lot of time on the nest today...off and on. Twice while they were there I happened to have the cam on and have some nice scaps of them.


The first visit that I caught I was in on the tail end of it so just three scaps!


Mom and Dad on the night cam just before it turned to color.



Mom calling loudly for Dad to come back.



That's better...let's get to work on these branches!!