Iowa Bald Eagles ready to hatch their eggs. LIVE!

[hpmsrm]

Two Eagles....in the nest.....with eggs just about to hatch.  I believe it is a live video.  I noticed that there are an awful lot of folks watching.  This is in NE Iowa near the town of Decorah.  NE Iowa is pretty much dairy country....hilly and lots of forest and woods with cliffs and rock formations.  Not too far from the Mississippi River.   Have a look while it is is still daylight.

I rushed to get this posted for all our wildlife lovers. Hope I'm correct on my facts.

[Uniblurb3]

Phil, those eagles in Vian, Oklahoma, may be a little chilly but it has too be a whole lot better out there than when it was it was a record low of -27, w/chill factor temps even lower, on Feb 10, 2011. I remember watching the parent birds in blizzard conditions and than it became so cold the web cams shut down.

Unbelievable how hardy/tough Bald Eagles are to have a successful nesting season under such adverse/harsh weather conditions.

Iowa web cam: Well it looks like one of the birds caught some dinner (rabbit?) that's now in the nest with a parent bird. Think it's interesting in the view (not my screen shot because it's cropped) you can see a road in the top right corner and last night I saw car headlights go by in the dark.

I'm sure some may not want to see this screen shot but preditor/prey is just part of nature.

[hpmsrm]

She is feeding the two babies right now. 5:22 PM CDT.  Picking meat off the carcass and putting in the eaglet's mouth.  The view is perfect.

#3 apparently has not hatched yet.  Hope it does soon.

[SomeJoe7777]

#3 egg was laid about 4 days after #2 egg, so it may hatch correspondingly later.

[hpmsrm]

Have you noticed the enormous number of viewers?

Edit: 8:30 PM CDT.  Poor mom.  Saw her yawn several times. Now all is quiet.  It's dark and she's having a problem staying awake.

[spd2demun]

Yes, I did notice yesterday!

Took a few screenshots at various times.  When mom (?) was falling asleep, it was so people-like!  Our pet duck would do the same thing with burrowing her beak in her back feathers when it was chilly.

note--prey edited out, especially the mammal in the last one. :-(

[TexasEd]

Nice pics, Spd.  Just took a look and it sounds like a Dove cooing in the background -- mama eagle's looking aroud like she would like to silence it!  Amazing to be able to watch this!

Thanks, Phil for putting that up.  They even have it on the yahoo home page today!

[spd2demun]

LOOK NOW!!!

The babies are out, and hollering to be fed!  Where's dad?

BTW, sad to hear all the car noise in the background.    Looks like a busy road near the

nest.

edit to add a photo--wasn't quick enough to get the mouth open (note road in back; camera moved angle, and they did zoom on the babies earlier)

[spd2demun]

[spd2demun]

I'm working...really!  Each time I hear a bird squawk, I bring up the live feed.

Mom (?) was warning something overhead to go away!

update--she felt threatened enough later to stand up, then flew away for a few seconds!  Babies look stunned!

[hpmsrm]

3:19 PM CDT.   The babies are getting restless and mom is having a bit of a problem keeping them corraled under her body.  Wonder if it's getting to be meal time.   Haven't see pop today.  He ought to be showing up with some fresh food shouldn't he?

[hpmsrm]

6:50 PM CDT:   I just switched back to check on the eaglets and got there just in time to see mom move off of them.....and #3 was just breaking completely out of its egg.  It emerged just before she moved back and blocked the camera view.   I did notice that dad must have returned and deposited dinner in the nest.  That is why she moved.....to get a bite of meat which she swallowed herself.  One of the little ones started to move her direction and the look on its face was "where is my bite".  I see that look on Alfie's face a lot.   I was hoping I'd get to see the third one hatch and I got lucky.  I think mom is old enough and has done this enough times that she is really good at taking care of them.

So now we have three new American Eagles.  How long before they get big enough to leave the nest?

[skeeterintexas]

I had the chat window open earlier.  They refer to the larger of the babies as E1 and the smaller one E2 and I'm assuming when the third one appears, it'll be E3.

E1 is a handful.  Momma has to keep dragging the nesting material closer to her body to keep him in check, not unlike a baby gate!

[spd2demun]

  Not unlike human kids!  Except poor mom doesn't get a sitter.

I had to leave, but looks like he brought her a fish?

[skeeterintexas]

Welcome E3, hatched last evening (Wed.) around 7:00pm.

[hpmsrm]

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@skeeterintexas wrote:

Welcome E3, hatched last evening (Wed.) around 7:00pm.

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Yep.  See my post above.