News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Golden eagle cam up and running

There aren't many ways the average person can enjoy watching a pair of golden eagles raise their babies without going to a lot of hard work, or posing a threat to the eagles. Not anymore. All one has to do is turn on the television (or laptop, or any other electronic equipment that will access the Internet) go to www.goldeneaglecam.com, and you're there.

In 2003, Forrest Babcock and Janet Zuelke, who have a home overlooking the Wolftree Discovery Outpost on Whychus Creek, spotted a golden eagle across the canyon sitting in a huge nest of sticks. Forrest, being an optical engineer of great repute, got the idea to mount a camera to a celestial telescope and send the image to their home.

Forrest and Janet sat at their kitchen table watching the eagle on their TV. Then, April 17, the one egg hatched, and they had other eagle family events to watch. Unfortunately, on April 22, a big windstorm blew through Whychus canyon, lifted the baby eagle out of the nest and deposited it about a foot beneath the nest cup in the stick debris, and the chick perished.

It wasn't until the spring of 2010 that Janet and Forrest saw two eagles in the area again, the male doing the majestic swooping mating display. That was when Forrest put his time, talents and money to work, setting up a new cam that he hoped would gave everyone on the Internet a splendid view of what was going on. But the weather of Sisters Country pulled the rug out from under him.

That year they had a cheap tent staked to the ground and tied to a pine tree closer to the edge of the canyon. Inside was a seven-inch Meade telescope, with an old video camera placed in the eyepiece attached to a homemade adapter that Forrest created.

But, at one point the entire tent collapsed, and it was good-bye camera. However, Joe Leonardi, a local videographer, sold Janet and Forrest a professional camera; they re-staked the tent, made a new adapter for the telescope, and were good to go for the rest of the season.

"We also met Blake Lundstrom that year," Janet said, "and he took us to a whole new level in streaming live images. Technology at this time allowed for a large-screen full-color view of the birds from our living room, and a new computer allowed us to record the entire season."

That year the eagle cam had over 50,000 hits, including classrooms across the country.

2011 brought the same pair back to the site, and they produced two young that fledged successfully two days apart.

In the spring of 2012, the adult eagles came back for the third year in a row to nest, and once again laid two eggs. This year Forrest and Janet hired their friend Jack McDonnell, who donated part of his time to build an eagle-viewing platform. They asked Hoyt's to help out with some discounts on the material, and, as they all watch the site, they were happy to help.

That year Janet and Forrest estimated that the number of people looking in on the website might become a problem for their server. Up to the plate stepped Yellowknife, a local broadband company, and donated all the bandwidth they needed. Then another friend of Wolftree, Kelsey Collins, pitched in a donation to make sure there won't be commercials on the site.

That year, both chicks grew to maturity, fledged one day apart near mid-June, and the site had over 175,000 hits.

On February 21, the adult eagles returned to nest. The telescope was in place on the eagle viewing platform on a new concrete pedestal, and also had a fully enclosed hard polymer case around it to protect it from anything Mother Nature might throw at it.

Yellowknife was on board, along with Blake Lundstrom, to bring the streaming and website to a new level. Gary Miller and the Sisters Area Photography Club came on board with a donation for new software. They had the support of a new sponsor in the Sunriver Nature Center; Jay Bowerman said he had some R&D money that he wanted to share so he could do something similar with a bald eagle in the future.

With a new camera that has it's own built-in computer, Forrest adapted the telescope once again, and the show was back on the air. They've been filming since February 28, and when the thermals are rising off the canyon, causing shimmering in the atmosphere 1,100 feet from the camera, it can be focused from the computer inside the house.

This year the class sponsor is a fifth-grade science class in St. Paul, Minnesota. The teacher, Holly Magner, was thrilled to change her entire lesson plan for the spring when she heard about this camera, and her students are very busy making all sorts of charts and graphs and doing research on golden eagles.

Looking back, Janet said, "For us it has been an honor and a pleasure to be a part of this, and the time and money (probably close to $10,000 over the years) has been well-spent. We have many people that have helped us along the way, too numerous to mention here, and we are grateful for the support."

 

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