Bald Eagles 2020

And now for something completely different!!

The eagles are back again! I've been watching the Decorah (Iowa) nest for several weeks now. There are 2 eaglets right now in the nest and one more egg that should be hatching any day now.
There are several other webcams of eagles and peregrine falcons on this site that can be checked by running your cursor over the "watch birds" pull down at the top of the screen.

https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-eagles/

You got my attention. Thx for the link.

Nice. We've got a Great Horned Owl nest with two owlets in the park beside us. They were here last year as well and maybe the year before. Love owls.

Lucky

Like most birds of prey, those owls will probably continue to return to the same nest year after year until one of the pair no longer returns for whatever reason. If that was an eagle's nest, that thing can be as big as a double bed!!

For sure. We are hoping that they will be back next year and we can see the owlets when they are smaller - will watch them periodically until they fledge.

They are very pretty birds, and pretty aggressive too. When I had a Redtail hawk in Maryland I used to take it to a wooded area a block away to exercise it since hardly anyone ever ventured in there. The second time I was there, a Great Horned Owl got really territorial and dive-bombed my Redtail several times before I got it out of there!!

Very cool to know. We see a huge number of red-tails (and other raptors) flying by our building, which is up on the edge of a river's flood plain valley (it must funnel the wind up to give them a extra boost/lift)...happens esp. during the migration periods now and in the fall. We can get some very good looks at the birds sitting on our balcony, which is very cool, esp. if you are looking down on their backs as they fly by.

During the fall, I visit my daughter in Tampa and play several courses in the area. There are a ton of Eastern Goshawks (my avatar) that migrate down there and stake out territories around golf courses. They are so focused on protecting their area that I've driven a golf cart up to within 10' of their perch before they even noticed that I was there!!

Nice. For sure, when the birds are focused on others, they can be oblivious to you, esp. if they have been there for so long and have gotten use to humans just being part of the background.

In my experience, most wild animals treat vehicles as a box that happens to be moving around. They pay attention to the movement, but it's not a threat to them at a distance.....until someone gets out. Then all bets are off!! That's why someone can drive right past a deer and it will just move away, not spook.

Agree. And what I have found is that if you don't look at the animals directly, they are more often okay with you being around but if you make eye contact, they get more spooked. I've tried this from a car parked near raptors and all's fine if they are looking and you aren't looking back at them but as soon as you do that, they take off. Something about seeing eyes....which I think may be the same phenomenon with camera lenses that look like a big eye to them.

I have seen about 5 eagles on the middle or top end pigeon lake in the past 3 years as well as others on the river in Bobcaygeon, kirkfield and south of Bridgenorth. Lindsay dump also has 2 resident bald eagles as well

Very cool. I'll be sure to have a look for them the next time I'm at Pigeon or around Bobcaygeon.

Saw one real low on saturday at Balsam . Haven't seen any for the last 2 years.