Okay.... you’re stuck in your office or cubicle and you definitely need an Outdoor fix. If you’re connected to the Internet, it’s easy. There’s a variety of Internet Web Cams placed in a variety of outdoor environments these days. One of the coolest I’ve seen is pointed at an eagle’s nest on Reelfoot Lake.
The EagleCam went up last winter with the help of the Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation, plus some corporate and individual sponsors. It provided some really cool views of a pair of eagles for a short time, and then they apparently abandoned the nest for unknown reasons. This sort of took the wind out of the EagleCam’s sails.
But it’s back. My friend, Ross Malone, pointed me back to it saying, “I wanted to tell you about the website again and with action in the nest it makes for an interesting and relaxing scene for anyone that loves the great outdoors.”
I’ve checked in a couple of times today (Sunday) and at first, didn’t see anything. But upon looking closer, I spied the eagle’s head barely sticking above the edge of the nest.
This is an archive Eagle Cam image from 1999.
It’s not much, but if you’re into this stuff, it’s fascinating to be able to watch a virtually live picture of an eagle’s nest from anywhere in the world!
Here’s the latest update from the EagleCam operators:
“February 10, 2000 Happy Valentine's Day - have a chick! Faithful eagle watchers may have noticed that there is more activity than usual on the nest today. We believe the reason for the activity is a newly hatched chick! It has been 30 days since the eagles were observed sitting in the nest, which is on the early side, but still within the normal incubation period. We hope to see the baby eagle start peeping over the top of the nest in a couple of weeks.
“The mother eagle has been seen very carefully tearing food into tiny little bits, and putting those bits on one side of the nest. She then sits on the other side of the nest. We are interpreting this to mean that she's feeding a chick, and continuing to incubate another egg. That's right - we are thinking that there's another eaglet on the way. It'll be a week or more before we know for sure, but that's what it looks like right now. We'll let you know of any new developments.”
The camera only brings you still frames. You can select a refresh rate of 45 seconds, or every 10 seconds. The only downside is that the camera angle is a little bit low. It would be better to be able to look down into the nest, but last year the operators explained to me that this was the highest point they could possibly position their camera.
It looks better on a sunny day. Web Cams don’t produce the highest quality image in the world. But still, it’s a taste of the great outdoors, and the boss never knows you’re gone.
Plus, here’s Links to several other wildlife and outdoor web cams you might find interesting. Have fun!
Old Faithful Cam (Yellowstone)
Manatee Cam
Shark Cam
Elephant Cam
Wolf Cam
Lobster Cam
Bird Cam
Discovery Channel Cams