Shiocton eaglets' popularity soars

By David Horst  sandhill7@gmail.com

See more photos  ||  Watch a video of the banding  ||  See Fisher's photos

Like most celebrities, they seemed small in person.

They’ve been on camera almost constantly this year, even though they aren’t able to walk yet. Clearly these are the stars of Wolf River Cam — Shadow and Feather, two eaglets growing up in a towering white pine outside of Shiocton.

Hundreds of Internet users may be tuned into their live web feed at any given time. Last weekend, the show went beyond the usual feeding time rituals. The main act involved pulling Shadow and Feather from the nest, checking their health and returning them with identifying bands clamped to their legs for future tracking.

This is the work of Pat Fisher and her Feather Bird Rehabilitation Center near New London.

MJ Electric provided a lift truck able to carry two people to the upper reaches of the 80-foot tree, where they will pluck the baby eagles from their nest, under the watchful eyes — and menacing talons — of their parents, George and Martha.

The first ascent misfires. The truck needs to be jockeyed into a little better position. On the second attempt, the bucket rises, carrying MJ Electric lineman Dan Verhagen and Feather volunteer Don Baumgartner.

Verhagen easily plucks the feathery masses from the nest and Baumgartner secures them in plastic bins for the ride down. None of this has escaped the notice of Martha, who flies unending circles around the five-foot-wide nest.

“I am so blessed,” Baumgartner said, “with all of the things I’ve seen and I’ve done.”

Those experiences come from a 22-year association with Fisher.

She examines the eaglets when the bucket touches down. They appear healthy. 

Baumgartner is concerned that he may have seen a fish hook in the beak of one of the eaglets. As Fisher extracts it, it proves to be a length of some unfortunate animal’s intestine, a leftover from lunch.

“Oh my gosh, their feet are huge,” Fisher said, still thrilled by the sight of these birds after all these years. Baumgartner would need to extract Shadow’s talons from his pants leg after the banding.

One at a time, the eaglets are balanced comically on a scale not quite as big as their backsides. Little Budda-shaped balls of feathers. The readings are 6.85 pounds for 36-day-old Shadow, a male, and 7.42 pounds for 34-day-old Feather, a female. The females typically are larger among eagles.

The eaglets’ names were chosen in an online contest, the winning entries being references to the two charities involved.

Their parents got a late start on nesting this year. Eagles have occupied this nest for nine years, according to the homeowner. He asked not to be identified for the safety of the birds.

He says his family has gotten used to these backyard eagles, and the flip side is true of the birds. Lawn mowing doesn’t bother them. The eagles become the audience as they sit and watch the family’s pool parties from high above.

The birds’ daily activities are out there for all to see at wolfrivercam.com.

Gary Bunnell said the viewer numbers have been strong, but not high enough to bring in the donations he had hoped to raise for the Feather and Shadows on the Wolf, a hunting and fishing group that is supporting the effort.

Fisher said the web cam has not been a large source of donations, but it is effective at educating the public.

Ask the people who have the site bookmarked on their computers. They’ll tell you it goes beyond effective to addicting.