EagleCam Newsletter 2, 2022

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minnesota department of natural resources

EagleCam Season Ten is Underway!

December 7, 2022

Season Ten of EagleCam December

The pair

The new male keeping watch

December 7, 2022

 Building a Family

 The beginning of what we hope will be another great season at the eagle cam is upon us. Both adult eagles have been visiting the nest a couple times per day. Recently an attempt at mating was even observed! Luckily, the female appeared to be having none of it at this point. We agree that it is a bit early in the season for that! 😊

The tenth season of the cam has us at DNR thinking back to the last decade of this nest and all the successes and challenges we (and the world!) have watched. We have learned new things about how and when chicks and adults communicate (even through the egg shell!), we have watched the parents defend their family from cold, wind, rain, raccoons and more! We have seen fascinating feeding behavior and tried our best to let nature take it’s course when this got hard to watch. We have all learned so much together.

Many of you have been with us all along. Some of you are brand new! During a time of year when some of us reflect on family and gratitude, the eagle cam team has been reflecting on our gratitude that this wild endeavor, which we decided to try 10 years ago, found so many eager minds. We have heard from you through your phone calls, emails, posts, tweets, art, and songs. We have seen eagle cam fans turn living rooms into viewing theaters and schools touch young minds with the intimacy of what we are able to watch these majestic birds do from just feet away.

We hope this season will be another that brings us to the edge of our seats with all the drama that nature possesses. Through whatever this season brings, we remain your Nongame Wildlife Program. Your Nongame Wildlife Program brings you the passion and science you demand of us, but we can only do this because you support us. You support us in so many ways. Keep it coming eagle cam fans. Your passion, attention, advocacy and, yes, your monetary donations, ensures we can keep bringing you what you want. We are thrilled to go another season’s journey with you. Stay tuned for equipment updates and nest happenings. Buckle up, its going to be quite the ride!   

If you want to help, visit MNDNR’s Donating to Nongame Wildlife (https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/nongame/donate/index_eagle.html).  And don’t forget to sign up for eagle came email updates.

Chilly Days Ahead

Winter seems to have arrived in Minnesota in earnest. Does the cold and the snow have you wondering how our wild, feathered, friends keep warm?

Birds employ many of the same strategies we use to stay warm. They will shiver, which makes heat using muscles. They will increase their insulation by fluffing up feathers, which traps pockets of warm air around their bodies. Birds will also tuck feet, legs or beaks closer to their bodies to take advantage of the warmth their feathers provide. Some birds, like Canada Geese for example, even employ something called countercurrent heat exchange, which isolates the blood exposed to cold temperatures in their feet and keeps it from cooling down their core body temp. Watch for some of these behaviors in our eagle pair as temps drop. Take a peak outside your window too and see if you can spot other wild friends making their way through the Minnesota winter!

 

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Visit the DNR EagleCam: mndnr.gov/eaglecam

Minnesota Nongame Wildlife Program

DNR’s Nongame Wildlife Program helps preserve and protect thousands of Minnesota wildlife species, some of them threatened or endangered.  The program is supported almost entirely through voluntary donations, either directly or by designating an amount to donate on your Minnesota individual income tax form (look for the loon). Donations help us restore habitats, conduct crucial surveys and monitoring, engage in outreach and education (like our Eagle and Falcon cams), and complete other important projects.  Visit mndnr.gov/nongame to learn more.