Horned owls & eagles square off in a Decorah cage match (OK--that's an exaggeration!)‏

PHOTO: Horned owl in bald eagle nest courtesy of Raptor Resource Project

Some surprising news from Decorah's world-famous bald eagle nest.

It seems the Decorah bald eagles now have a rival for the use of their new nest—two horned owls who seem determined to make the nest their own.  Says Raptor Resource Project Director Bob Anderson, "In the dark of night a pair of Great Horned Owls has been visiting the nest. "  Anderson says on Sunday night the male owl flew into the nest when it was unoccupied and began checking it out.  All of a sudden one of the adult bald eagles flew in and drove the male Great Horned Owl from the nest.   A few seconds later the adult female flew in and knocked the adult eagle right off the nest.
 
Anderson notes that even though Great Horned Owls are about one-third the size of the bald eagles, they deserve their nickname of the "flying tiger."
 
He concludes, "We are hoping that the eagles will maintain ownership of the new nest and with luck the owls will move over to the old nest.  If this does indeed take place a film crew from National Geographic will set up house in Decorah to document the interaction between the two species.  The next few weeks will determine who owns the eagle nest as we are 30 days from having the first eagle egg."