Watch: Baby bald eagles blown from nest during Iowa tornado outbreak
Extreme wind took down an eagle's nest with three eaglets inside. Rescuers rushed to the scene to check out the birds and build a new nest.
Watch: Bald eagle nest with eaglets blown down by storm, parents return to no trace
The Denton Homes live eagle cam caught three baby eagles in a nest downed by tornado winds in the May Iowa outbreak. Watch as parents return with food for the eaglets but find no trace of the young or the nest. Rescuers scramble to re-install a nest within 24 hours.
DES MOINES, Iowa – The mid-May tornado outbreak in Iowa didn't just wreck the homes of people but also three eaglets waiting for mom and dad to return.
Home building team Scott and Stephanie Denton watched the eagle live cam they set up as soon as the wind picked up on May 21, the day of the Greenfield, Iowa, tornado that killed five people and destroyed hundreds of homes.
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Drone video shows tornado devastation in Greenfield, Iowa
File: A violent tornado tore through central Iowa on May 21, causing destruction in the town of Greenfield. Drone video showed several structures that were leveled and residents working to find storm victims.
Storm winds picked up
Mom and Dad Majestic, as they are known among bald eagle researchers, had just left the nest, presumably hunting for food for their 5-week-old eaglets.
As the winds picked up, eaglets 14, 15 and 16 balled up in the nest to resist the winds. However, the thousand-pound nest the size of a king mattress was no match for the straight line winds. It and the babies fell 85-feet to the ground, according to the Dentons.
Stephanie Denton said Scott immediately called a bird rescue group and then headed out for the tree.
"Scott and I were the first ones (out there) and we're like, 'Okay, what are we going to find? Are we going to find these birds or how are we going to, what shape they're going to be in?'" Stephanie Denton said. "And all three of them were very close together, and all three of them just looked like they were in shock."
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Winds blew down a nest with three baby bald eagles.
(Denton Homes / FOX Weather)
"Within hours we came, got all three birds," Stephanie Denton added. "A rehabilitation organization took them in immediately that night. They were in shock. It was cold. It was wet."
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Parents return, no nest no eaglets
When the weather cleared, Mom and Dad Majestic each returned with a fish but found nothing. The video shows the pair looking around.
"In about 3 or 4 hours, the Mom and Dad were back in there with food like, 'Hey, where'd my house go?'" Scott Denton said. "So, I mean, you can just imagine if you're a human, you climb up out of the basement, your house is spread across the lawn. I assume these birds are going to feel the same way."
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Mom and Dad return with fish after the storm but the nest and eaglets are gone.
(Denton Homes / FOX Weather)
The home builders got to work building a temporary home for the birds, and wildlife experts worked to reunite the family. Dad watched Scott doing bird's work the whole time.
Scott installed the eagle cam in 2018, and watched the couple build the nest. With his construction background, he knew a thing or two about foundations and learned from the Majestics, what the eagles look for.
"We watched them build that nest, and so you learn a lot from a structure (standpoint)," Scott said. "(We and eagle researchers) watched every stick, every meal that comes in there, and they documented. They have since 2018."
Within 24 hours, Scott and his team built a new nest with a stable foundation. This one was only 8 feet off the ground though.
Homebuilder Scott built the eagles a new nest.
(Denton Homes)
"We took a 4-by-8 pallet to start with, just to give us a base. And then we lined it with synthetic turf, I didn't want any holes and I need the water to drain through, just as a base," Scott Denton said. "And then we used the sticks from our old nest to create that new nest. We started to basket weave the old nest stuff into the new one."
Waiting for Mom and Dad to feed babies
The rescuers returned the Denton eagle trio to the new nest. For 24 hours, the Dentons and wildlife experts watched the trio with Dad nearby.
"Dad knew where they were," Stephanie Denton said. "But in the eagle world, we learned from experts, that for them (parents) to trust it takes a good 24, 48 hours for them to go, ‘Okay, this is okay, I can go down and feed them.'"
Stephanie Denton said Dad Majestic kept a watchful eye on the three eaglets, but the mother was nowhere to be found.
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Eventually, the eaglets had to be brought into rehabilitation. According to SOAR, Saving Our Avian Resources, the parents were not feeding the baby birds and the team became concerned about starvation and dehydration. They were also worried about predators being able to reach the eaglets and incoming storms.
The Dentons kept watching the eagle cam and saw that Mom eventually returned.
"That afternoon, an hour after the rehabilitation group brought the eagles back (to the facility), Mom and Dad were perched on the mound, perched in the same tree at the nest," Stephanie Denton said. "We all prayed and wish that we just had 24 more hours."
SOAR reported that the eaglets should be able to return to the wild after learning hunting and flying skills.
Meanwhile, the Dentons are watching Mom and Dad get a new nest ready, hopefully for a new family next year.