Two days ago I posted a mini-review of the new NOVA documentary on PBS entitled “Eagle Power”. A reader has provided additional and relevant information on the black fly incident that was very nearly lethal to the Decorah eaglets that played a pivotal role in the documentary.
1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM, not baited, set up or called in
Yesterday I received the following email from David Mendel who is intimately familiar with the history of the famous Decorah (Iowa) eagles. David provided more detailed background on the black fly incident that nearly cost last year’s eaglets their lives and he explained why what happened to the Decorah eaglets wasn’t an isolated incident. In addition he provided a couple of links that some of my readers will very likely be interested in.
Bird lovers take their eagles seriously, the Decorah eagles in particular. Over the years I’ve published almost 3000 posts to Feathered Photography and the most popular by far has been A Guide To Aging Bald Eagles published way back in 2013. To this day it still gets more traffic than any other post in my archives so I figured that many of my readers would be interested in knowing more about the Decorah eagles in general and the challenges of last year’s eaglets in particular.
Without further ado, here’s David’s email. It’s a fairly long read and may not be for everyone but I strongly suspect it will be of interest to many of my readers.
“RON, I was touched by your post yesterday (5/23) regarding the NOVA documentary on Eagle Power. I wanted to comment on your post, but its been two days now and knowing people don’t go backwards in comments, was hoping that you might post this in a future post one way or another. I also didn’t want to violate any protocol with cross posts. In any event, the bald eagle portion of the NOVA documentary reflects on the 2019 breeding season for the Decorah (Iowa) eagles. It summarizes the first year of the eaglets D32 and D33 lives. Maybe everyone knows the story… After the eaglets hatched, they developed in their amazing and normal way, but just prior to fledging is where the story takes a turn.
As NOVA depicted the eaglets essentially jumped out of the nest due to the black fly infestation. Two things about this are important, first it wasn’t just the Decorah eagles that were impacted, it was raptors throughout the Midwest due to the very wet spring last year. The Raptor Resource Project (RRP) is the internet home of the Decorah eagles and several other raptor internet nesting sites and I couldn’t recommend more strongly that people who love raptors should visit their website. BTW, it was RRP that tuned me on to Feathered Photography a couple of years ago with a reference to your blog.
The second important thing was the story behind the rehabilitation of D32 and D33 which NOVA only very lightly touched on. D33 came out of the “jump” in relatively good physical shape and she was sent to “Saving Our Avian Resources” or “SOAR” for flight rehabilitation and to allow her to build her survival skills prior to release. My recollection is that she was dehydrated and anemic from the fly bites, but otherwise was intact. She was released in September.
The older sibling, D32 however was in worse shape due to a fractured leg bone, but also had the same ailments as D33. His fracture was in a pretty precarious place and SOAR had a very guarded prognosis for quite a while. They didn’t know if his fracture could heal well enough to ever allow for release due to being very close to a joint. He was very lame initially and took quite a while to get to the point of putting weight on his broken leg. Amazingly, D32 did heal completely and followed D33’s release, but not until March 2020.
Obviously without intervention by humans this story probably would not have had the happy ending. I’ve been watching Mom Decorah for about 7 years (and now her second mate DM2). The webcams RRP has are amazing and watching all year has taught me so much about eagle behavior. It is a privilege to witness what they do year after year.
I hope you can share this short story with your readers in some way. The websites I visit are posted below for reference. They are quality people really only interested in what is best for our avian friends, particularly raptors. Take care Ron, and if you can’t post this for what ever reasons I totally understand.
RRP: www.raptorresource.org
SOAR: soarraptors.org
Take care, stay safe and Healthy
Regards, David”
Thank you, David. I learned some things and I suspect many of my readers did too.
Ron
Notes:
- Very few Bald Eagles nest in Utah and as a result I don’t have any standout photos of them nesting. The photo I’ve included here is just “fill” but it’s one of my favorite Bald Eagle photos so I think it’s quality fill. Besides, a magnificent adult Bald Eagle on Memorial Day seems appropriate.
- I chose to post David’s email today rather than later for two reasons: 1) I figured the sooner I did it after my review of ‘Eagle Power’ the better and 2) over this holiday weekend I’ve developed some kind of eye condition that is painful and affects my vision. As a result I find processing images well to be an almost impossible task. Posting David’s email today allowed me to use an older image that had already been processed. Wouldn’t you know that this would happen over a three day holiday weekend when I wouldn’t have access to my ophthalmologist! For obvious reasons I’m trying to avoid the ER at (almost) all costs. I mention this here only because it may affect what or even if I post to Feathered Photography over the next few days so I wanted to give my readers a heads up.
Thank you, Ron, for all that you do to raise our awareness of our beautiful yet sometimes struggling wildlife. Thank you for posting David’s letter! In addition to letting us know that both eaglets survived it may have made more people aware of just how long and hard the path to rehabilitation and release can be for injured birds, particularly birds of prey. What he did not mention was just how expensive it is to care for these birds or how much knowledge, patience and education it takes. I hope SOAR will receive more donations as a result of this post. They deserve generous donations and our deep gratitude for not giving up on these 2 eagles.
I’ve been out counting birds and entering data most of the day, but just wanted to chime in to say these posts, comments, and links are super. Thanks.
Thank you, Lyle. I’m glad it was birds that kept you occupied, rather than something less pleasant.
After reading your review of Eagle Power, we decided to give it a watch last night and loved it! They are magnificent creatures! Hope your eye feels better soon–I hear you about avoiding the ER. I love your blog.
I’m glad you gave it a try and enjoyed it, Cyndi. Thanks.
Outstanding shot and fascinating post! I’m playing catch up with your blog entries and sure am enjoying it. Thanks so much. Hope your eye improves ASAP!
Thanks very much, Joanne.
Glad to hear your eye is improving. Please still get it checked out. I read that that is one of the signs of that awful virus. Also I have followed Decorah since it first aired. It was your post on aging bald eagles that brought me to your blog. Thank you.
I’m glad it brought you here, Debbie. Thank you.
Late to the party… again❗️
So glad David shared more of the story of this Decorah nest. The past two seasons have been rough. Mom losing the dad with 3 eaglets to feed by herself and then last year with the black flies. So far this years 3 are thriving.
Watching these cams can be such a learning experience of the good and the bad of having to survive.
Love the Bald eagle ❤️
Sounds like you’ve been a fan of the Decorah eagles for some time, Diana. Thank you.
It was a link from the DC Eagle Cam (now NA Eagle Cam) to that very post on aging Bald Eagles that first brought me to your blog several years ago. And I’ve been here ever since.
Thank you so much for posting both David’s email and one of my favorite shots of yours. I hope that you can connect with your ophthalmologist tomorrow and that your eye malady is easily and quickly fixed.
I watched Eagle Power last night on one of our local PBS channels (much better — and bigger — pictures than would be on my ‘puter). It. was. amazing. I’m so glad that I get feed from 4 different channels that carry NOVA — it’s gonna be an Eagle Power week! The bobble-heads are too stinkin’ adorable! The scenes with the pre-fledge eaglets were very difficult to watch and I’m so glad there was a good outcome. That hasn’t always been the case for all the nest cams I follow. Mother Nature can be a cruel mistress.
That Aging Bald Eagles post has brought me many readers and eventual friends, Marty. I’m glad you were one of them.
Thank you. Me too! Just watched Eagle Power again; this time with hubby. He was as astounded as I!
Funny how things come full circle. It was a link to “A Guide To Aging Bald Eagles” on RRP that referred me to your wonderful blog Ron. Its easy to see why that post gets so much traffic, it was very well done.
Thanks very much, David – for the kind words and for taking the time to send me the email.
Thank you and Dave.
Webcams ALWAYS fill me with awe and wonder.
And I do hope (fervently) that the improvement to your eye is sustained this time. And of course it happened on a long weekend. It is a rule. Bodies (and appliances) are MUCH more likely to break down when support cannot be obtained.
“of course it happened on a long weekend. It is a rule”
My old friend Murphy is responsible for that ya know…
Yes.
And he blights long weekends and special occasions around the world. Regularly.
Thank you for posting the follow up, you know I like the rehab detail and wanted more about the break in particular.
Sorry about the eye, I was hoping it would be improving. Don’t rub it, it causes more inflammation!
Actually it is improving, April. If that trend continues I’ll be very grateful.
I, too, am glad to read further down the comments that your eye is feeling better today, but it is still worrisome. Hope you can get some sort of medical attention sooner than later.
Although I watch West Coast raptor nests almost exclusively, I know of the Decorah eagles (there’s lots of “cross-contamination” among nest cam viewers) and so appreciated David’s “rest of the story” on the two eaglets and am glad it was a happy ending. There are so many other obstacles to successful fledging in every raptor’s young life, I’m grateful that dealing with fly infestations isn’t one of them out here.
Thanks again for posting your “Eagle Power“ review, Ron, and this follow-up.
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Thank you, Chris.
I’m encouraged about my eye this morning. It’s finally feeling significantly better but the same thing happened yesterday morning and then it went south on me again. For that reason I haven’t been particularly optimistic but so far today things are looking pretty good. I’ve actually been mowing my lawn this morning – didn’t think that was going to happen.
Thank you for posting David’s email. Although I’m familiar with SOAR’s excellent work, admittedly, I don’t follow the Decorah eagles as closely as I follow the Cornell redtail hawks. However, David’s comment about the webcams hit a home run with me, He wrote, “The webcams RRP has are amazing and watching all year has taught me so much about eagle behavior. It is a privilege to witness what they do year after year.” Having watched the Cornell hawks closely since 2012 and the Harrisburg, PA peregrines before that, the behavioral stuff you can witness is absolutely amazing! These birds do all sorts of things that were previously unknown simply because the behaviors weren’t observed by the experts! They did it anyway 😉
I can’t even begin to describe my joy in watching these birds parent! Humans could certainly take a few clues from raptor parents. The partnership between the pair is profound. Each takes their part of the job seriously, working together to achieve their prime objective–raising the kids to adulthood.
While the female (who is largely in charge at the nest) is a patient, nurturing and tender mother, she’s simultaneously a task master, requiring that her kiddos learn a new aspect of adult hawk survival every day. She largely ignores what some might call bad behavior among her clutch, or broods them into a post-prandial stupor, when a reprimand is needed, it’s swift and efficient. Since 2012, we’ve seen that once when a fledged young one got a little too big for his britches!
At the same time, the male, who is largely in charge of keeping the family fed, keeps a steady flow of and a variety of small critters (assuming a prey-rich environment). The male is also the first line of nest defense. Together, they’re a formidable team with one objective.
I HIGHLY recommend that any serious raptor birder take the time to watch one of the many nestcams out there. It’s well worth your time.
I’m so very sorry about your eye problem! I hope you can get the right medical attention without going to the ER. That’s a dangerous place now! Stay SAFE!
“I HIGHLY recommend that any serious raptor birder take the time to watch one of the many nestcams out there. It’s well worth your time.”
I second that recommendation, Laura. Enthusiastically.
I’m so glad to read that your eye is feeling better today. For both selfish and altruistic reasons, I want your eyes to allow you to continue your blog!
Thank you for posting David’s email. It did supply interesting additional information. making us remember that other species can be taken down by a relatively small assailant–although the flies relative to eagles are huge compared to the coronavirus compared to our size.
Finally, I recognized your eagle photo. I looked for an eagle photo to go in a brochure encouraging hunters to use non-lead ammunition to avoid poisoning the same position as yours, but as a silhouette. Of course, it was slightly “idealized” by making the individual feathers on its legs one solid mass rather than showing details. There may be other photos close enough to yours to make it hard to prove he used yours. It’s hard for me to imagine that yours wasn’t used somehow by the person creating the silhouette.
Nancy, I’m not surprised, that photo is one of my most commonly stolen images.
Sadly that documentarie wasn’t available to me. Nevertheless I find the information you and David Mendel provide very interesting. Thank you.
Everything that is related to eye’s issues SHOULD never be posponed.
Take my word for it.
Jorge, Elephant’s Child who lives in Australia couldn’t watch it either. Hopefully you’ll both be able to see it sometime down the road.
Ron, an eagle follow up is very appropriate here on Memorial Day. Let’s be sure to remember our fallen brothers and sisters on this special day.
And lets hope that your eye problem can be taken care of as soon as possible.
We only had one pair of nesting eagles this year and they too witness the loss of their one chick. While he or she was being care for the male was sickened from eating an animal shot with lead bullets, and then due to his weakened state was badly beaten by a rouge male. He was found and was taken to Liberty Wildlife in Phoenix where he was rehabilitated. But in the meantime because the female often had to leave the nest to fish the ravens came along and killed the chick while she was gone. Very sad, but as we know so well, nature is often very cruel to our birds and other wildlife.
Thanks, Everett. That’s a sad eagle story.
Thanks for recommending Eagle Power. It was terrific.
Good. Thanks Keeley.
I have Kirkendall cousins, originally from Pocatello ID and now living in WA state. Maybe we’re related… 🙂
The follow-up was especially timely for me, as I followed the link you
provided to the Nova feature only yesterday, and was so grateful to you
for it– excellent and beautiful, and sadly educational– i had no idea that
insect infestation could threaten the very survival of such powerful and
magnificent creatures–something from which even the most attentive parents couldn’t protect them…..
You’re right, Kris – there was absolutely nothing the adults could do about the black flies. Watching the eaglets struggling with those flies reminded me of what I’ve been through on Antelope Island with the biting gnats. But I only have to deal with the gnats for a short time – those poor eaglets must have been going through hell.
WOW! SO glad David wrote and filled in information on the eagles and the fact other raptors that weren’t in Nova’s Eagle Power were also affected by the flies! 🙂 I will be visiting the RRP site……
You certainly DON’T need an eye issue! Hope it resolves quickly! 🙁
I’m with Dick – forget the time we live in and celebrate what’s REALLY important!
Judy, I had no idea that what happened to the Decorah eaglets was far from an isolated incident. For birds it’s tough out there in so many ways.
Wow, Ron !! I’m so glad you posted David’s email. Both your blog & David’s email had very interesting info on one of the problems facing our eaglets as they grow, fledge & hopefully survive to adulthood. I also found you because of your “A Guide to Aging Bald Eagles”. One of my mentors at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest in 2014 referred me to you as I was always asking questions to learn more about these magnificent Raptors. I’ve never stopped coming to your site from then on. Now – about your eye. I would strongly recommend at least calling your ophthalmologist’s office & leaving a message. He may call in a script for drops to help until you see him – plus you should get in sooner than if you wait until tomorrow to call. I’ve had 4 eye surgeries & I know they usually have someone on call.
Well, I’m glad you found Feathered Photography one way or the other, Jo Ann. I appreciate the advice, I’ll just have to see how it goes this morning.
I too follow your site because of the reference to your post on Aging Bald Eagles. Thank you for sharing David’s email. I hope you find healing soon for your eye.
Thanks, Julie. So far my eye feels noticeably better this morning. I’m hoping that trend continues.
Man, this is a Great Post! Many thanks for sharing!
Forget for a day the time we live in and celebrate the men and women who served this country and helped made us safe!
Thanks, Dick.
Agree with your suggestion but it’s very hard to “forget the time we live in”, even for a day. Even so, we can still celebrate them. And I do.