EAGLECAM

[Guest guest]

High Nest, Low Blows Rivet Web Audience

 

June 09, 2006 — By Jenna Russell, The Boston Globe

In a nation obsessed with " The Sopranos, " it's hard to imagine how a single

camera trained on a birds' nest in Maine could become a hit show on the

Internet.

 

Then again, when the birds are baby bald eagles fighting for survival -- even

pecking their siblings to death to fatten their own food supply -- perhaps the

popularity of the " Bald Eaglecam " isn't surprising.

 

Perched high in a massive white pine near the ocean in Maine's Hancock County,

the " Eaglecam " nest was chosen for stardom by state wildlife biologists, who

placed a surveillance camera in a nearby tree in January. Their goal was to

capture the lives of the resident couple through breeding season, and beam their

story live to a worldwide audience.

 

But the biologists never predicted the sharp dramatic turn the tale would take,

as thousands of viewers watched live on their computers.

 

The eagle eggs were laid in March and hatched in mid-April. Three fuzzy eaglets

emerged. On a blog where biologists explain the eagles' behavior and viewers

post comments and observations, eagle-watchers from as far away as Texas,

Ireland, Africa, and Pittsburgh heaped praise on the mother eagle as it

selflessly shielded its offspring through weeks of drenching downpours.

 

But viewers saw more than noble instincts.

 

By late April, at feeding times, when the father eagle swooped in with snacks of

sea birds, fish, and crabs, the smallest eaglet was pushed to the back by its

siblings and left unfed. Then something even more disturbing happened: The

largest eaglet attacked its smallest sibling, and within a few days, apparently

pecked it to death.

 

" I hope that I'm wrong about what I saw, " wrote one dumbfounded witness on the

blog.

 

Wildlife biologists confirmed the siblicide on the blog and described it as a

natural occurrence. " What you are observing on the Web camera is unedited,

unsanitized, real-time nature -- survival of the fittest, " Mark McCollough of

the US Fish and Wildlife Service wrote to the dismayed audience.

 

Ugly as it was, the killing did nothing to quell the obsession with the eaglets,

whose every move continues to fuel online chatter.

 

" I'll never get any work done! I can't pull myself away from this fantastic

show! " Celeste from Alabama said in a recent posting.

 

Some of the most thrilling moments are ahead, the biologists said. This summer,

the eaglets should begin testing their wings, playing trampoline in the nest and

strutting on high branches before attempting their first flights, a leap that

can end in triumph or disaster, said wildlife biologist Charlie Todd of the

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

 

The Biodiversity Research Institute in Gorham, Maine, hosts the " Eaglecam " and a

live " Looncam " on its website, briloon.org, where traffic has jumped from about

200 visits a day to about 27,000. The small, nonprofit group has asked for

donations to offset the $2,000 monthly cost of the webcast.

 

Scientists attribute some of the interest to recent news about bald eagles:

Earlier this year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans to remove

the bird from the federal list of endangered species.

 

In Maine, where breeding bald eagle pairs had dwindled to fewer than two dozen

by the 1960s, four decades of protection have restored the population to almost

400 pairs, Todd said.

 

This spring in Vermont, a successful breeding pair produced the first bald eagle

offspring in that state in 60 years.

 

Another webcast, at www.nu.com/eagles, a project of Northeast Utilities and the

Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, is trained on a nest in

Massachusetts. According to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, there were 18

pairs of bald eagles in the state in 2004.

 

If the bald eagle loses its protected status, it will be up to regular citizens

to ensure its survival, said Wing Goodale, a research biologist with the Gorham

institute. He hopes the " Eaglecam " will foster a bond between man and bird.

 

" I hope that by seeing their trials and tribulations, people will understand the

struggle they go through, and feel personally connected, " he said.

 

The plan appears to be working.

 

" This is better than the Montel Williams show . . . or TV for that matter, "

wrote another " Eaglecam " viewer named Dave. " I never thought bird watching could

be so fascinating. "

 

To see more of The Boston Globe, or to to the newspaper, go to

http://www.boston.com/globe.

 

 

I don't wanna be no war hero

Don't want a movie made about me

I don't wanna be no war hero

Just get away from the madness I see