First Egg in Decorah!

We have our first egg in Decorah! Mom arrived on the nest at right around 5:00PM and began hovering over the egg cup. DM2 arrived with a fish for her not long afterwards, but she didn’t try to take it from him – a sure sign that something was up! DM2 remained in the nest with Mom: arranging nest materials, rousing (I think Mom looked a little annoyed after being whapped in the face by DM2’s flying feathers!), and leaving the fish – a delicious, succulent fish – for Mom.

At 8:12 in Tulsa’s video (the first one on the list), we hear the soft chirps that indicate the end stage of egg labor. DM2 flies out as Mom continues to softly chirp. You can clearly see her contractions as she pushes the egg out. She’s working very hard and her contractions become more frequent. She lays the egg at 5:44 PM CT (or 11:10 into Tulsa’s video). As we’ve often seen her do, she appears to check for the egg after laying. She rolls the egg back into the nest and collapses into a hard-earned sleep!

We will be starting chat on our website tomorrow on our website at https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-eagles/. Until first hatch, chat will run from 8-10 AM, 1-3 PM, and 6-8 PM, all times central. Please join us for our first egg fundraiser on Friday on chat, Facebook, and Explore. We have a lot of eggs to celebrate!