Heartbreak For Famous Iowa Eagles: Dad's Missing, Legions Weep

DECORAH, IA — No “missing” signs will go up for a famous dad in Decorah, Iowa, though he hasn’t seen his young offspring in about a week. No one knows what happened to “Dad Decorah,” the male eagle who has fathered 31 eaglets since the nest cam went live in 2007, capturing the attention of more than 400 million online viewers.

Dad Decorah was last seen during an April 18 snowstorm, according to officials with the Raptor Resource Project, which operates the camera high in the cottonwood trees overlooking a stream and trout farm in northeast Iowa. An active search for Dad was suspended Monday. The news isn't good.

More than 20 volunteers, including members of the Decorah Fire Department Search and Rescue Team, who normally spend their time looking for humans, showed up to look for him Friday through Sunday. Some actively scoured Dad’s normal roost and perch areas in the area, and others looked along highways for signs of his demise. Drones were deployed in challenging areas.

There was no trace of the patriarch, who has delighted online viewers as he has fetched fish to the nest and shimmied many eaglets beneath him over the years while Mom Decorah took a break.

“It really came in handy to have Incident Commander experience assembling and managing emergency response spill crews in a prior career,” John Howe, the executive director of the nonprofit Raptor Resource Project, which researches eagles and other raptors, wrote on the group’s website.

Dad Decorah's disappearance is unusual, which makes his fans all the more fearful.

The three eaglets hatched this year haven’t fledged, and “it is outside the norm to leave during the middle of the season, especially after that many years and having that many eagles fledged,” Howe told the Des Moines Register.

In another post on the Raptor Resource Project website, Howe said the last week has been “a pretty tough period for all of us.”

Mom Decorah, his mate for nearly a decade, let out a piercing scream, called a peal, for him Friday. It wasn’t returned. Another male eagle was seen near the nest, but Howe and his team determined it wasn’t Dad Decorah.

No one has has given voice to the worst fears about his fate. He’s aging — 21, which puts him in senior citizen territory — but in good health. No one refers to him in the past tense.

“There is a possibility he got sick and is recuperating,” Howe told The Register. “It’s happened before that they just show back up.”

The Decorah eagles’ fans are broken up and beside themselves, and with each passing day that he is missing, their fears grow.

On the Raptor Resource Project's Facebook page, many people have offered their prayers and good wishes for Dad Decorah.

Fan Nat Defiebre, who keeps track of the eagles from California, calls Dad “a prince among eagles” and “a loyal mate, a dedicated dad and teacher to his young, and to us.”

Iowan Sandy Bender called his disappearance “almost unbearable.”

Many wondered how Mom and the eaglets are faring now that Dad isn’t around to deliver meals.

“Mom and the little ones have no idea how many people love them and are worrying over them,” wrote Paula Isis Smith, who describes herself as an animal-rights warrior.

Mom Decorah is fishing and feeding her young, Howe said.

“While we worry, the eaglets are eating, sleeping, pooping, playing house with nest materials, and growing like weeds in the warm bright sunshine,” Howe wrote in an update on the website. “Mom has been doing an excellent job caring for them and has even been able to take a little ‘me’ time as she babysits from the Skywalk or a nearby perch. It makes us feel good to see the eaglets just being themselves. We are breathing deep and trusting Mom.”

File photo by Steve Boice via Shutterstock