Tulsa World: Eagles eyed with webcams

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Eagles eyed with webcams

A steel tower was built to replace a dead tree the pair of eagles once used.Courtesy

By KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer
Published: 2/11/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 2/11/2009 9:32 AM

Two bald eagle eggs, and counting.

The Sutton Avian Center's Bald Eagle Nest Camera is up — way up — and running, and the pair of eagles on the nest under close cam supervision laid two eggs in recent days, one on Friday afternoon and one Monday afternoon. There may be more.

A wireless Internet connection, batteries recharged by solar panels mounted on telephone poles almost 100 yards away, and cameras mounted 50 feet in the air and sheltered by waterproof housings are bringing this miracle of life from the middle of nowhere to the world at large, said Dan Reinking, senior biologist at the center.

Oklahomans are connecting over the cams, Reinking said. He sees e-mails from people who say their children are excited by the eagle cam. A grandmother e-mailed the biologist to let him know she and her grandson from out-of-state stay in touch by chatting about what's going on at the nest.

With the cameras mounted at two angles just over the top of the nest, every move the eagles make is clearly visible. They rearrange nesting materials, bring in prey, add materials to cover the eggs, and of course spend a great deal of time incubating the eggs, protecting them from the elements.

With two eggs in the nest, they could still lay more. Last year this pair laid four.

The eagles' nest is in a tower designed by biologists at Sutton and constructed by OGE Energy Corp. at Sooner Lake north of Stillwater. "The tower was built a number of years ago and they adopted it readily after their natural tree fell," Reinking said. "They had a big, dead, tree and we and OG&E were aware that tree was going to fall down at some point."

A year or two later the tree fell, and the eagles moved to the tower, he said.

The ultimate fate of the four eggs last year was not seen online because the single camera's connection was lost.

"This year we have two cameras, so we hope that redundancy will help," he said. If something happens to the cameras, the view is done for the year. They have to be erected and taken down well outside the time the birds are nesting. "We can't go up for fear of disturbing them," he said.

The nest can be seen at tulsaworld.com/eaglecam.

Eagle nesting facts

Typically, 1-3 eggs are laid

Incubation typically starts in December or January

Eggs are incubated 33.5 days

Hatching can take up to 2 days

At least 66 eagle pairs nest in Oklahoma

Both male and female eagles incubate the eggs

Females do most of the brooding after the eggs hatch while the male hunts

It take 12 weeks from hatching to the point young leave the nest

A third of Oklahoma eagle nests fail

Source: Sutton Avian Research Center

Kelly Bostian 581-8352
kelly.bostian@tulsaworld.com By KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer

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Arbythree, Tulsa (2/11/2009 3:54:26 PM)

This is great! The webcam will be educational and fun for anyone.

Thanks to TW for bringing this to our attention.

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