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The Decorah bald eagles typically lay eggs in February, often in snow and bitter cold, with hatching around 35 days later in late March or April. The eaglets grow fast through spring and usually fledge — take their first flights — in June. So spring is the most compelling time to watch: eggs, hatching, and fast-growing eaglets. The cam, run by the Raptor Resource Project, has followed these eagles for years and is one of the most beloved nest cams in the world.

Decorah sits in the Driftless Area of northeast Iowa and has a humid continental climate with strong seasons. Winters are cold and snowy, often well below freezing — remarkably, this is when the eagles begin nesting. Summers are warm and humid, frequently 25-30°C, with thunderstorms. Spring and autumn are mild and changeable. The live cam captures it all, including the striking sight of adult eagles incubating eggs through snowstorms.

The cameras overlook a bald eagle nest near Decorah, a small town in the Driftless Area of northeast Iowa — a region of wooded bluffs, trout streams, and steep valleys that escaped the flattening of the last glaciers. The nest sits high in a tall tree. The cam is operated by the Raptor Resource Project, which pioneered eagle nest streaming and has made the Decorah eagles internationally famous.

Bald eagles are remarkably cold-hardy and time their nesting so that eaglets hatch when food becomes more available in spring. So they lay eggs in the depths of an Iowa winter — often February — and the adults incubate through snow and sub-freezing cold, their body heat and a deep insulating nest keeping the eggs viable. Watching an adult eagle sit calmly on eggs while snow piles on its back is one of the most striking sights the live cam offers.