Friday, February 21, 2014

The Deborah Eagle Cam Video Mystery


One minute Dad is doing what appears to be some kind of house cleaning next to the Eaglets.  Then suddenly Dad's head whips to the right and one of his offspring whips with it, right out of the egg cup. 


First Dad looks where Eaglet was.
Then he looks where Eaglet went.


Finally he looks around for his mate as he appears not to know  what happened nor how to amend the matter or get the eaglet back in the egg cup either.

Both Eaglets are squeaking their brains out so he does what he can.  He feeds each of them and then when they still fret he does what one ordinarily does next, he sits on the nest bowl to keep them warm....except one isn't in the nest bowl.  

This is worrisome and he can't figure out how to mend it.

Back in 2011, I think Dad was a much younger and quite inexperienced Dad than he is now. Mom on the other hand appears older and more on top of things.

I have a thought about how the Eaglet might have  turned into a projectile when Dad whipped his head around.  But I'd like to hear your thoughts as well.

Therefore dear Readers, if you'd like to check out the video of the episode at the link below and come up with what you think might have happened and shoot me an email, I think it would be great fun to compare notes. 

My email address is up right on the main page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ5kPUtqiuw

Happy Hawking!

Donegal Browne

5 comments:

Karen Anne said...

I'm wondering what other people in the areas that have been getting a lot of cold this winter are seeing about any scarcity of wildlife. Usually even in winter there are visitors to my deck feeding station over night. Skunks, raccoons, foxes,opossums. This winter, usually no of the food is touched overnight. i don't know if they've all decided to sleep through this, or if they've succumbed to the intense cold and snow.

The only increase in wildlife I see is that suddenly robins are frequenting the deck, so I've added dried cranberries for them.

Phoenix Fire Falconry said...

Actually, the age of the adults at the Decorah nest is the opposite. Dad eagle is the older, and original owner of the nest. Mom is the younger. This nest is highlighted on the documentary American Eagle. Bob Anderson could clarify and confirm, as he is the one whose project monitors this nest.

Phoenix Fire Falconry said...

Here is a link to the full show:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/american-eagle/video-full-episode/4349/

Donegal Browne said...

Karen Anne,

Wow, I've not seen a Robin since last year. As to the mammals, since I'm in a different area now I've no previous winters to compare the visitation of mammals.

There is more limited viewing here, and as I say I don't know what a "regular" winter would show, but this winter I've seen virtually none of the usual suspects browsing.

Donegal Browne said...

Phoenix,

Many thanks for the link for the full show and more info on the Decorah nest. Will get in touch with Bob Anderson. BTW, I didn't look for leg bands on the eagles but if you know, how do they keep track of who's who in that area.
In NYC as we have Red-tails, so we keep track mostly by belly bands (and/or a few distinctive personal traits)but as Eagles don't have belly bands I was wondering how they did it at Decorah?