Nest Monitoring & Interesting Facts

Did you know?

• Branching is what the owlets do during the period before fledging. They leave the nest and climb (with their feet and beak) to nearby branches and even glide to adjacent trees.

• Eagles perform a courtship display known as the cartwheel. They fly high in the sky together, lock talons and spin downward. Just as you think they are going to hit the ground they separate and fly up high again.

• At approximately 24 hours old wood ducklings will jump from the nest cavity and follow their mother, capable of flight at 8-9 weeks old.

Join me in nest monitoring where we will witness nesting and the young develop and prepare for fledging. I warn you though - we have to wake up a 4:00am and sit in a blind for approximately 4 hours a day, multiple days in a row to wait for wood ducklings to leave the nest. We will also have to go out into the middle of a corn field in the dead of winter, the temperature sometimes below freezing with high winds to watch eaglets develop into juvenile eagles. Plan to stand there for at least an hour, about every five days.

On second thought, why don’t you join me virtually from the comfort of your home, or wherever you may be and watch the nesting process and the young prepare for fledging: