2011 bald eagle is returning home, while one 2012 bald eagle is sticking close to home

File photo of "D1"

Two bald eagles hatched in Decorah are engaging in very different behavior.

A female bald eaglet hatched in 2011 has had an itch for wandering.  "D1" went to northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin last summer, returning to Decorah on December 29th.  She the winter close to home, but then took off in May and headed all the way to Hudson Bay in northern Canada. 

Raptor Resource Project Director Bob Anderson says D1 has now begun heading south.  But Anderson adds, "Will this eagle return to Decorah again?  Her travels have proven to be absolutely fascinating."
 
As for the 2012 male eaglet that was outfitted with a GPS transmitter, he has yet to venture more then 20 miles from Decorah.  Anderson says the other day he tracked down the male eaglet to a white pine tree overlooking the Upper Iowa River along the Pole Line Road near the Bluffton turn off.