Battle of the birds: Owls trying to take over Decorah eagles’ nest

DECORAH - A power struggle is underway for ownership of the Decorah eagles nest.

A pair of great horned owls have come to blows with the world-famous eagles over occupancy of the nest from which a videocamera transmits images to multitudes of Internet viewers.

'It's amazing, shocking, incredible. We don't know who will win,” said the eagles' godfather, Raptor Resource Project Director Bob Anderson.

Though an adult bald eagle is about three times the size of its horned owl counterpart, the owl compensates with ferocity that has earned it the nickname 'flying tiger,” Anderson said.

The owl pair first started visiting the eagle nest several weeks ago. 'They are now visiting with increasing frequency and acting territorial,” Anderson said.

During a confrontation videotaped on the evening of Jan. 18, one of the adult eagles flew into the nest and drove off the male horned owl, Anderson said.

'A few seconds later the adult female (great horned owl) stoops in and knocks the adult eagle right off the nest,” he said.

The Decorah eagles have two nests within 400 feet of each other near the Decorah Fish Hatchery. Both nests are equipped with videocameras and microphones.

'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,” Anderson said.

Those living arrangements could be reversed, or the eagles might have time to build a third nest before they lay their first egg in about a month, he said.

If the eagles and the owls do settle in the adjacent camera-equipped nests, Anderson said a National Geographic film crew plans to document the interaction between the two species.

The eagles mated before the 2008 nesting season and have since hatched 20 chicks.

The eagle nest can be viewed at http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles