By David Horst sandhill7@gmail.com
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SHIOCTON — Webcam transmissions of an eagle's nest in Decorah, Iowa, have riveted tens of thousands of viewers this spring, but one Shiocton-area couple is unimpressed.
A stone's throw from their back door, they have the same show playing live.
High up in a misshapen white pine, a pair of eagles is raising two healthy eaglets. The couple sets up lawn chairs and cranks up the tunes to sit and watch.
Eagles have nested in the tree for at least eight years. In the three years the family has lived there, the nest has produced one, three and two eaglets. They asked that their names and exact location not be used to prevent getting more visitors than they already do.
I'm there in the company of conservation warden Mike Young and New London bird rehabilitator Pat Fisher. We've come to check on the babies and attach identification leg bands so their movements can be tracked.
Young has arranged for a portable platform crane from Al Kramer Construction of Center Valley at no charge. Likewise, Arndt's Construction Services asked nothing to haul it. This is Memorial Day — everyone's day off.
"This is for nature," explains Kramer, who enjoys hunting and fishing. "This is for the future."
The wet yard sucks in the tires, stranding the crane until the landowner's tractor pulls it free.
Once it's in position, Young and operator Ryan Kramer ride the platform to the full 60-foot length of the telescoping boom to reach the huge, flat nest of sticks. Young later reports finding a supply of dead muskrats up there, and a very unpleasant smell.
Father eagle had flown from the nest when we first arrived, and waited perched in the swampy safety of the woods beyond the white pine.
When the crane invades the nest area, dad returns. He flies continuous circles around the tree as Young reaches into the nest to pull out the first of the about five-week-old eaglets. He estimates its weight at something approaching 10 pounds.
A sock placed over the bird's head calms it for the ride down, gripped in Young's arms to prevent it from injuring itself.
He presents the young bird's already menacing talons for the tag to be applied. The work done and photos taken, Young ascends again to replace this one and repeat the process with its sibling.
This white pine is but one page in the success story of the American bald eagle's amazing recovery. The Department of Natural Resources estimates the number of nesting pairs in the state at a number approaching 1,200. They have become a common sight along the Fox River.
Young returns with the second eaglet for the same routine. It's not coming as quietly and struggles in his grasp.
As the crane ascends again, mom eagle appears. She joins her mate in circling the tree, but she's screeching.
Fisher says she has never seen one attack during banding, but Young wears a hardhat just the same. Heavy gloves protect his hands and arms.
With the second eaglet back in the nest, the crane descends again, this time eagle-less.
The parents continue their patrols, even as the crane wheels back out of the yard without incident.
As the crane piggybacks on the trailer again, a glance back reveals a pair of young feathery eyes peering down at us from out of the nest. They are back in their world and we, once again, admire from below.
Old business: Three weeks after you read it here, the DNR has confirmed in a news release that the training of endangered whooping canes to migrate following ultra-light aircraft is moving from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin to White River Marsh state wildlife area west of Berlin. The reason is to escape the blackflies at Necedah that may be interfering with nesting.
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