Bald eagle cameras are giving new information to researchers

The website that shows pictures of Decorah's bald eagles gets more visitors than all other raptor websites run by the Raptor Resource Project. Among those people watching the video are Raptor Resource officials themselves.

Raptor Resource Director Bob Anderson on Tuesday night told a Decorah audience the bald eagle video is giving researchers new insights into the habits of the birds. For instance, it was thought that bald eagles spent nights mostly sleeping. But Anderson says the infrared camera video shows the bald eagles often leave their nest in the middle of the night.

Researchers also thought the bald eagle had a diet mostly of fish. But video has shown the bald eagles will eat crows, pheasants, ducks, squirrels and even have been spotted eating a deer head.

The video also allowed researchers to calculate the amount of time the male and the female spent incubating the eagle eggs. They were surprised to learn the male spends around half the time on the eggs--something that's rare in birds.

Anderson told the Decorah audience "It's fun to be surprised." He says researchers might learn even more about bald eagle habits if they put bands on the eagles or clip on satellite transmitters.

To visit the bald eagle video, log onto http://www.luther.edu/eaglecam/stream/.