Another Hatch-Year 2026 Bald Eagle Admit

15 July 2026

On Saturday, July 11, SOAR received a phone call from Winneshiek County Dispatch that had just taken a report from a landowner North of the Decorah Fish Hatchery saying that an eagle was on the ground on their property and needed help. SOAR made a call to the director at Winneshiek County Conservation (Winneshiek CC) asking if she could help check out the situation. She grabbed a box, gloves, long pants, boots, and headed out to attempt to find. All the while, hoping it was “just” a wild turkey.

According to the landowners, one wing was not right. The juvenile walked into the ravine and hunkered down and disappeared, not to be found on Saturday. Ugh. The director left her cell phone number with the landowner and neighbors, asking them to call her if the eagle was seen again.

The landowners kept an eye out for the young eagle and did not see on Sunday or Monday.

However, very early Tuesday morning, the young eagle was seen again on the road and Winneshiek CC was called right away! Success. The young eagle was safely rescued on July 14 and thanks to the generosity of Winneshiek County Conservation, the hatch-year 2026 (HY26) Bald Eagle started the journey to SOAR.

Yes, this youngster is from the Decorah Fish Hatchery nest #6 (N6). Consensus from Raptor Resource Project’s nest camera moderators is that we admitted the eaglet named DH3. Link to Raptor Resource Project page about DH3, with nest map)

map of Bald Eagle nests at Decorah Trout Hatchery

  • 2026 Decorah Hatchery N6 notes
    • First egg laid 2/17/26 (DH3)
    • DH3 hatched 3/27/26
    • Both DH3 (first) and DH4 (second) fledged on 6/18/26
    • DH3 last seen on RRP camera on Friday, 7/10/26

 

Copyright Lynch Photography – Photo taken July 1, 2026

Upon transfer, Kay, SOAR Executive Director, did a quick field exam and noted the eaglet was thin (we have admitted HY26 eaglets much thinner this year), a bit dehydrated, sassy (spunk is a good thing), had no open wounds, but did have a wing right wing issue.

  • Watch the Bald Eagle Play by Play with Raptor Resource Project’s Amy Ries, guest naturalist Holly Garrett, and Explore host Mike Fitz (listen starting at the 37:00 mark).

Back at SOAR, DH3 was weighed in at 8.2 pounds and Kay is thinking male – she will get a beak depth measurement to verify. With a bit of soaked stew meat on board, DH3 did leave a nice looking poop! Blood will be drawn for a blood lead level, standard procedure for all Bald Eagle admits.

A huge shout-out and thank you to the Siewers Springs Rd residents plus Winneshiek County Conservation!

Posted in Notes