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Updated: 22 March 2012 | 8:40 pm in Local News

Hatch watch under way at Decorah eagle nest

The 35-day incubation period ends this weekend, first chick expected to hatch Friday night or Saturday


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In this image taken last year from live streaming video provided by the Raptor Resource Project, an eagle feeds its newly-hatched chicks in their nest in Decorah on Sunday, April 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Raptor Resource Project, Bob Anderson)

 

Hatch watch is under way at the world famous Decorah eagle nest.

“Here we go again,” said Bob Anderson, director of the Raptor Resource Project, which installed and maintains the nest cam that provided more than 200 million glimpses of the eagle family’s domestic life last year.

“My guess is the first chick will hatch Saturday, but it could come any time after Friday evening,” said Anderson, noting that the 35-day incubation period ends Friday.

If the chick hatches Saturday, it will be six days earlier than last year’s first chick, but Anderson does not attribute the early hatch to the mild winter and early spring.

“She is just becoming a more experienced mother. She has been laying a few days earlier each year,” he said.

To view the eagle nest, click here.



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