Articles
- Birding Hotspots in the United States: Merrymeeting Marsh in New Durham, NH
- Birding not eco-friendly?
- The Birding Hotspot’s product gets featured in Birder’s World magazine
- Live Bird Cameras on the Web
- Pelican swallows cell phone at zoo
- Rook intelligence - link to Aesop fable?
- eBird releases list of most wanted counties
- Inside the brains of birds: Zebra Finches
- Birding Hotspots in the US: Drummond Island
- “All About Birds” Gets a Facelift
- Wader populations decline rapidly
- ABA Regional Symposium in North Dakota
- Eagle Watching banned amidst Chaos
- Heavy Optics Carrier makes light work for serious birders
- Reducing bird deaths: a matter of lighting
Live Bird Cameras on the Web
One of the most interesting emerging trends out there in the world of internet birding is the concept of a nest camera. In fact, recently the Cornell Lab of Ornithology released a site called “NestCams” dedicated to that very purpose. So what are bird cams or nest cams? The concept is simple enough, a digital camera is set up inside a dedicated nesting box for a bird or family of birds, and then a streaming video feed is sent over the internet to offer live footage of birds as they come and go. Dedicated web watchers can then join in the fun of watching and observing, even taking snapshots or stills of footage and submitting timestamped observations and annotations for others to read and peruse later! Thus far the NestCam site has three functional cameras for viewing - Barn Owl, Chimney Swift, and Seabirds of Alaska. You can see them all at the site links below:
The NestCams Website (http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/nestcams/camera/index)
Here’s a preview of what you can see on the NestCams site:
Chimney Swifts - a streaming Nest Cam from Glenham, NY
To get the full effect though, you should watch the streaming video on the NestCam site:
http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/nestcams/camera/view?cameraID=C100060#
If you’re interested in the idea of setting up your own bird observation camera, one prominent product out there is the Wingscapes BirdCam, used to capture videos and photos digitally right in your back yard. It comes highly reviewed by some prominent ornithologists and birding bloggers, as well. Expect to see a product review on the birding hotspot website in the near future! Until then, check out the website:
