One Tough Old Bald Eagle In Red Wing, MN

If anyone is in driving distance of The National Eagle Center wants to play with the new Swarovski ATX spotting scopes or try out some digiscoping, I will be hanging out at the Big River Optics booth this Saturday and Sunday (March 16 and 17) from 10am  - 4pm. We can practice with a smartphone or SLR. You can even try my Nikon V1. The center has a ton of fun things on tap this weekend, so you can really make a day of it. Also, I highly recommend including a stop right across the river from Wabasha to the Nelson Creamery for some cheesy goodness.

Speaking of The National Eagle Center, I had the privilege of doing a ranger program before Scott Mehus from the National Eagle Center went on.  This was a real treat for me, he is a master at giving programs to kids and all audience ages. When you see a pro at work, even if you already know the information they are going to present, it's a pleasure to watch them in action. If you ever see Scott advertised for your local bird club, even if you think eagles aren't your thing--go.  I bet he could even make accounting interesting!  You can also meet him at the National Eagle Center too.  A great guy...who not only knows his way around a bird of prey, but also makes some very tasty cookies (his wife is a lucky lady).

So of course after my program, I had to do some digiscoping. Colvill Park in Red Wing, Minnesota is a well know spot for watching eagles from November through March.  Though, with the nests in the area, you can see them any time, the eagle numbers are simply larger in winter.

There generally seems to be one adult bald eagle that perches regularly in the park itself, sometimes right over the well used trail along the river. I was digiscoping that bird (as were several photographers) and it seemed completely oblivious. It didn't pay us any mind. As I looked through my scope, I noticed a crack in its beak. I wondered if it flew into something at some point or if it had an altercation with another bald eagle over territory.  It certainly didn't perch near the other bald eagles along the river.

As I was taking photos, the bird would look around and I noticed that on the other side of its face, they eye didn't look good. Let's take a closer look:

That doesn't look like a functional eye.  Then I remembered an eagle that Non Birding Bill and I saw in Colvill Park a few winters earlier.  When I came home, I dug through my photo archive:

I took this photo on January 17, 2011.  I wonder if it is the same bird?  I don't have any shots of the other side of the beak to see the crack, but the eye looks similar and this was a bird you could get fairly close to in the park:

I'm willing to bet money that this is the same bird. There's plenty of easy food opportunities around Red Wing for an eagle that is not at the top of its game. If this is the same bird, it was an adult in this photo from 2011--so at least 5 years old.  I took a photo two winters later, making it at least 7, but when I took the original photo, it could have already been 10 years old.  It's tough to say.

I'm always amazed by a bird's resiliency.  Many wildlife rehab centers wouldn't release a bird with one eye.  The bird could become an education bird or in some cases, euthanized. But more and more, I see examples of birds that appear to do well and even thrive with one eye, here's at least one red-tail that I've talked about and you have you read about Julie Zickefoose's titmouse she calls Scarface that most likely survived an accipiter attack? Here's the initial photo...and here it is over a month later.

So, if you are in the Twin Cities, maybe make a day of it.  Drive down to Red Wing's Colvill Park and see if you can find this eagle, then head a bit further south to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha and say hi to me...and don't forget Nelson for some tasty, tasty cheese.

Golden Eagle and Bald Eagle Field Trips

Can you tell the difference between these 2 birds?  If not, you should consider coming to the National Eagle Center's Golden Eagle Field Trips.

Identifying bald and golden eagles in the wild can be a challenge. We are fortunate to be able to see both bald and golden eagles in the Upper Mississippi River region in the winter months.  During the NEC Golden Eagle seminars and field trips, you will learn what to look for to distinguish bald and golden eagles, including juveniles. You’ll also gain valuable raptor field identification skills from experienced birdwatcher and NEC Education Director, Scott Mehus.  Each field trip begins at the National Eagle Center at 1:00pm. After a brief classroom session learning tips for identifying golden eagles, participants will caravan out to a field site to observe golden eagles in the wild.  Call (651) 565-4989 or email nationaleaglecenter@gmail.comfor details.

I've already had a couple of golden eagles show this fall during my travels so they are definitely back along the Minnesota/Wisconsin border.  That's a photo of a juvy golden that I got a couple of weeks ago.  Not that eagle watching ever gets tiring but it is fun to pick the golden eagle needle out of the hundreds of bald eagles in the haystack.

Random Eagle Breakfast

About 10 eagles crowded around a carcass.  Observed during one of my many bird surveys this fall.  This was digiscoped close to dawn.

Eagle Parenting Mistakes

There's an interesting clip of the Decorah Bald Eagle nest live cam.  You get to see a minor parenting mistake made by the male eagle.  The female ends up fixing it, but night right away.  One thing that I find fascinating about the cam--well all the prey items, Monday one of the birds brought in a muskrat.  But you can also see that it takes the pair of eagles awhile to figure out how to solve the problem.  That hamster wheel in their brain doesn't turn very fast. The clip is about six minutes long, but I'll show you some high lights with screen captures:

The male was noodling around in the nest.  He didn't appear to be feeding the chicks, but picking out uneaten food morsels. The newly hatched chicks instinctively go to peck and beg when the adult's head comes down.  This poor eaglet bit into the male eagle's face, looks like right below the eye.

The male jerks his head back and flicks the chick off.

The male then kind of stares at the moved chick for a bit.  I think he realized that the chick is not supposed to be there, but doesn't know how to move it back.  The chick, out on the edge of the nest where it's cooler begins peeping.

Since the chick is peeping and the male doesn't know what else to do, he feeds it.

Then he hunkers down and broods the chick and remaining egg in the nest cup (I don't think that third egg is going to hatch). The moved chick looks rather indignant.  The chick is too small to do much movement on its own and it's still fairly cool, if this chick doesn't get moved back to the middle of the nest to be brooded by the adults, it could die of hypothermia.

The female returned and kind of pushed the male off, who made a hasty retreat. Perhaps he didn't want to be around when the female realized one of the chicks had been moved?

The female soon hunkered down on the chick and egg in the nest cup and it took her a bit to suddenly notice the eaglet outside of it.  Even then, you could see her trying to work out in her head what was wrong and how to fix this.

It took 2 or 3 attempts for her to move the chick.  She has to be careful, her beak is meant to rip open animals for food, so she doesn't want to accidentally injure the chick.  During the final attempt she was able to kind of roll the chick under her.  So, a happy ending...but it did take a long time.  One of the reasons eagles lay 2 or 3 eggs is that the goal is to get one of those to result in a young eagle leaving the nest.  There's the first egg and the others laid after that are a back up plan--insurance in case something happens to the first hatched chick.  So many things can go wrong from not enough food, rough weather and well, parenting mistakes.

Also, something else I noticed in that clip is the bird watchers:

See the 2 vehicles?  You can even see someone behind the vehicle on the right.  Do they know this is the live cam nest or are they random bird watchers?

Here's the YouTube video if you would like to watch the eagle parenting mistake:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ5kPUtqiuw&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

Eagle Channeling Huckleberry Finn?

An adult bald eagle rides an ice flow down the melting Mississippi River.

Eagles Fighting Over Carp

I spent the weekend at The National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN as a Swarovski Field Tek for a new company called Big River Optics who sells binoculars and spotting scopes through the Center.  I'll be there next Saturday and the following weekend (when we have a Birds and Beers) answering questions about digiscoping, binoculars and scopes.  Also, if you have Swarovski binoculars or a scope and would like a pro cleaning (similar to what they would do at the Swarovski headquarters) or if you need a minor eye cup adjustment, I'll be there to do that too.  Stop in and say, "Hi!"  It's not a bad way to spend the weekend--along the Upper Mississippi River watching bald eagles (like the above immature) float by.

We did get to watch some eagles squabble over a carp, right across the river from the Eagle Center.  An immature bald eagle got a huge carp and an adult came in to take over.  Other immatures came in to see if they could snatch a few morsels or the fish.

The adult was very intimidating to the younger birds.  As it would chase off one immature eagle, another would try to sneak in to claim the fish.

The immature eagle on the right almost had the fish when the adult charged it.

I love the eagle on the gound on the left.  It's as if the bird is say, "Oh crap, this just got real, I'm gettin' out of the way!"

The adult appears to have won the stand off with that particular immature.

Alas, the adult's charge was full on and it tried too late to put on the brakes.  It slid right off the ice and into the water.  Above, it's just about to go in.

It managed to turn around and get out quickly.  I missed that shot and this picture of it getting out is blurry.  Still, not a bad behavior capture for something on the other side of a river from where I was standing.

The adult was the overall winner of the carp.  A few of the immature were able to sneak in and get a few tidbits, but the adult ate the most.  It didn't have an easy time of it.  Below is a video and in the first part, an immature slams it from above.  You'll know when it's about to happen because the birds on the right look up and see it coming.  And watch how the eagles run around on the ice...it's hard to take them as majestic when they run like that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1FTyksKEJE[/youtube]

Golden Eagle Survey Time Again!

First, an interesting news story that popped up over the Holidays: According to a story in The New York Times blog in the last week a red-tailed hawk was picked up in New York and eventually made its way to The Raptor Trust.  Turns out that the hawk is over 27 years old!  I was curious if this was the oldest wild red-tailed hawk recovered in the wild...it's not.  According to the Bird Banding Lab the oldest known wild red-tailed hawk was 29 years and 9 months old.  Interesting was that this bird was also recovered in New York.

Since it's now officially winter, it's getting to be golden eagle season along the Upper Mississippi River.  The National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN will hold its annual Winter Golden Eagle Survey on January 15, 2011.  The above photo is one that I took during the survey last winter. I took a route near our beehives and ended up finding 3 golden eagles.  If you do not feel comfortable with your golden eagle vs immature bald eagle id skills, the National Eagle Center offers seminars to teach you how.  These are helpful because they show the habitat you are more likely to find a golden eagle than you would an immature bald eagle.  The next seminar is on January 8.  If you are in the area, you should sing up.  It's beautiful country in the winter and at the very least, you'll see lots of bald eagles, if not a few golden eagles.

Eagle Tracking In Wabasha

Last week I joined Mark Martell to aid in his quest to put more satellite transmitters on golden eagles in conjunction with the National Eagle Center in Wabasha.  It was a lovely drive down along the Mississippi, the hoar frost was thick on the trees and glittered in the sun.  He already has one on Golden Eagle 42, but one goldens movements do not tell us the whole story behind that wintering population of goldens along the Mississippi River near Wabasha, MN.

But trapping goldens is tricky business, the birds are cagey and lots of predators like the same bait as the target eagles. But still, watching a goat prairie for a day without actually trapping a golden eagle, beats any day behind a desk in my book.  I'd go into more detail, but I wrote up an article for Outdoor News which should be coming out in the next week or two.  Rob Drieslein who edits Outdoor News is also one of the hosts of KTLK Outdoors.  He asked me to call in to the show this Sunday around 5:15pm and talk some golden eagles.

Mark did help a fellow researcher named Brett Mandernack attach a transmitter to a bald eagle.  This was one bruiser of an eagle!  When she was trapped, she weighed just under 14 pounds!  We assume she is female because females are larger than males, so at that weight, it's a good guess this is a girl. She was part of a different research program to see where eagles that winter along the Mississippi go for their breeding territory.  I would guess a girl this size nests in Alaska but who knows what the transmitter will tell?

The forceps in the above photo are holding together the straps before Mark sews them together. They have to make sure the straps are snug enough to not fall loose and inhibit the eagle's movements but also loose enough to accommodate a bird's fluctuating weight.  A hood is placed over the eagle's head to help keep her calm and to also allow Mark to work in peace without the eagle waving her hooked beak around near chest. It helps the process go along faster and safer for the eagle.

Check out those talons! Speaking of eagles, March is a great time to visit the National Eagle Center.  March is their Soar with the Eagles month and every weekend they have special events planned and plenty of wild and display birds to be seen.  I'll be there this Saturday giving a digiscoping program at noon.  It's free and much our time will be spent on the lovely photo subjects around the center.  Even if you can't make this weekend, be sure to visit this month if you can.

Where Eagles Aren't

"Hey honey, you got a second?" "Sure."

"Okay. Don't get mad."

(sigh) "What happened?"

"Neil thinks he saw an eagle come down and try to get a squirrel in his yard."

"Why would I be mad about that?"

"Because you get mad when we think we see birds."

"Well, why don't you two boys go out and try and find it, then write it up in the blog while I'm busy in Atlanta."

"Okay."

Vicious Eagle-on-Squirrel Assault Leaves Local Man Scared, Shaken.

The terrified man, shown here protected by his faithful hound, was "simply glad to have survived the encounter."

Here he indicates where the savage attack took place... right outside his own window!

Your faithful reporter thought he meant here. Turns out that was your faithful reporter's own bootprint.

Turns out he meant here. Imagine the event, if you will. In fact, you sorta have to.

Here the witness looks at the tree into which the bird flew, following the attack.

Pictured: the tree into which the Eagle may have flown. Not pictured: the Eagle.

Your faithful reporter scans the skies for sight of the fell beast. What's that? Has the eagle returned, red in tooth and claw?

No. Just some bees. Strangely out and about in sub-zero weather, they quickly proved more than a match for this humble correspondent, who beat cheeks after rescuing one or two from a snowy grave.

THE END.

Sharon will return tomorrow. I know, I know. We're all glad.

Breeding Birds & Eagle Banding

If you're looking for links of what I talked about on KARE 11's Showcase Minnesota today, here they are: Sign up for the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas (a monumental project run by Bonnie Sample whom I've known from banding birds at Carpenter Nature Center) that needs volunteers and reports of birds breeding all over the state of Minnesota.  This is a huge project that no one birding organization has been able to organize before.  It's spearheaded by Minnesota Audubon, but will involve several state and national organizations.

The other item I talked about was Woodworking for Wildlife, my buddy Carrol Henderson's book  on building nesting houses and platforms for just about any bird that will use them.

Last week, I was privleged to join my buddy Mark Martell out on the St Croix River to band young bald eagles.  Above is a 5 week old bald eagle wondering what the heck is going on.  Hard to take them seriously as a top predator on the food chain when their beaks look like giant schnozzes.

We had a map with notes marking where eagle nests had been spotted in the spring.  We took the boat out to have a look--some were easy to find like the above nest.  It's huge because the eagles have been adding to it a little every year. The birds will do this year after year until the tree can no longer support the weight of the nest or wind knocks it down.

Speaking of wind, we were banding on Wednesday--the day it was super windy in Minnesota.  Normally, the tree climber who goes up to get the chicks, uses a bow and arrow, shoots and arrow with a rope over a strong branch above the nest to rappel up, but the wind was just too strong and took the arrow anyplace but where the climber needed it.

He eventually decided to climb the tree the old fashioned way.  It took longer, but was the only option.  Above is a photo of Dan the climber next to the eagle nest...did I mention that Dan is six feet tall?  Keep that in mind as he stands next to the nest--it has to be eight feet long at least.

Speaking of Dan Kraus our climber, he has an AWESOME website called Cat In A Tree Rescue.  It's a directory of tree climbers all over the country who help cats stuck in trees.  If your cat is stuck in a tree, you can find a climber near you to get it down.  There's a gallery on the site of cats he's rescued, if you'd like to so see some indignant kitties, check it out.  My personal favorite is poor Kit Kat.

When the birds are out of the nest, we determine the age--above is a 5 week old eaglet which is ideal.  Their feet are as big as they are going to get, but their flight feathers are not developed, so the bird won't fly from the nest too soon when the climber goes up the tree.  Mark Martell banded the bird, took a blood sample and a couple of down feathers for DNA samples.  With the type of testing they are able to do now, the climber can even bring down adult eagle feathers from the nest and if they have been banded by Mark, they can tell which bird it is based on the DNA.

Mark told me that earlier in the week when they had been banding eaglets, they had an interesting banding return.  As the group approached the nest, an adult eagle flew in carrying prey and dropped it off.  As the climber when up the tree, the adult took off.  When he got up, he saw the prey item--it was a blue-winged teal and it was banded!  He took down the band numbers and gave it to the banders when he brought down the chicks.  It's rare enough to get a banding return, but to get a banding return while you are banding a different species is as rare as it gets.  I'll be curious to hear about the teal's history.

Dan the climber was gracious enough to take my camera up with him when we returned the chicks and get a photo from their nest.  What a view of the St. Croix River!  Note how the chick's foot is sticking way out--that's normal, eaglets at 5 weeks haven't quite figured out what formidable weapons and tools those toes can be.  Check out this video of Mark putting an eaglet in a bag to be taken up to the nest (keeping them in a dark cloth bag keeps them from flailing and keeps them from injuring their growing feathers).  But watch how the eaglet starts to flex those talons, it's a little awkward, but foreshadowing what they can do when they grow up:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3USA2Fk0eiw[/youtube]

While we were banding eagles, we had other species checking us out.

A common yellowthroat flitted around us--it got within 10 feet, giving chip notes.  After about three minutes, it seemed to realize that we had no interest in it and only the giant birds, it started singing territory song in the open.  I took a few photos before we boarded the boat to check the next test.

There was also a pair of tree swallows nesting in an old tree riddled with woodpecker holes. This one kept peering out like a nosy neighbor.  "Abner, what are they up to out there?  You  should come see this! You won't believe it!"

There were also a TON of prothonotary warblers around us.  The eagles' nests are in perfect prothonoray habitat--sloughs with over-turned trees.  However, they are a bit more shy and we're moving too much.  Being constantly on the move and working with eagles does not make for the best conditions to get a photo of a prothonotary warbler.

We went to check a couple of other nests and were not as successful.  This nest was used last summer, but had shrank considerably.

You could see half the nest had ended up on the ground.  Either a branch supporting the nest had broke or a late summer storm blew it down.

There was evidence that the remaining nest had been used--check out all of this poop.  I suppected owl poop and had my suspicions confirmed when...

...we found pellets with bones and feather shafts.  Owl pellets will have bone fragments because they tend to swallow prey whole or in large chunks.  Also, there digestive acids are not as strong as a hawk or eagle.  This one looked to have been eating a good-sized bird.  I even found some rusty colored breast feathers.  I wondered if the owl had eaten a duck and wondered what species.

Searching through more pellets revealed more bones...and the tip of a duck beak.  The tip appeared to have a bump, so based on that, the breast feathers in the pellet, the size of bones, I suspect that the owl ate a wood duck.  Great horned owls would have already left the nest by now.  My guess is that part of this eagle nest fell last fall, a great horned nested in the remains in January, and the young were already hunting somewhere in the woods around us.

The third nest we checked was almost gone, so we did not get to band any birds there.  However, we did get to do some work at the first nest and a slow day on the river is better than a good day at a desk.  It was a treat to be out with the eagle banding crew to see the work that that they do.