The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery’s new EagleCam project has kicked off, giving the Internet savvy a bird’s-eye view of Dayton’s resident bald eagle pair — Jim and Cindy — during the nesting season.
If their offspring survive it will be the first documented case of eaglets hatching in the Dayton area in recent memory, said Brett Beatty, assistant wild life supervisor of Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources.
The birth of the protected migratory birds would be significant when weighed against the eagles history he said. Once pushed to the brink of extinction, eagles are now an example of the impact protection efforts can have on an endangered species.
There were only four eagle pairs documented in Ohio in the 1970s, but according to Beatty there are now hundreds, mostly near Lake Erie.
With EagleCam’s technology, people will have a close up view of one of America’s most cherished symbols, Beatty said, noting that Jim and Cindy’s offspring could fledge away from the nest in June.
Until then, the EagleCam will stream live video from the Boonshoft’s Web site —
www.boonshoft museum.org.
The project is the result of a $30,000 effort between the museum, ODNR, a private donor, the City of Dayton, Time Warner Cable, the Dayton Foundation and Copp Systems Integrator.
Copp, a 90-year-old Dayton firm, contributed more than $15,000 in equipment and services, including equipment housing and a camera positioned atop a 90 foot tower. The camera sits more than 800 feet from the eagle’s nest in the Mad River Well Field, a protected area of land that is part of the City of Dayton’s Source Water Protection Program.
Dan Hilbert, Copp’s vice president, said installing the camera has had its difficulty, but it was worth it.
“It’s just unbelievable when you see these birds,” he said. “With all the bad news, it’s something you look at and say 'this is something pretty cool.’”
The museum’s popular FalconCam is also up and running. More than 15,000 people watch videos of the falcons and their chicks each year, said Diane Farrell, Boonshoft’s vice president of external relations.
Any eaglet would be too small to be seen with the camera, but Farrell said bird watchers suspect the baby eagles have hatched because of Cindy and Jim’s behavior.
“We’re going to know if there are eaglets and hopefully sometime soon,” she said.
http://www.boonshoftmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=316
