Another exciting season for the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam has begun. It has been several months since the unfortunate loss of Elliott and Eloise's little ones this past April and with the prospect of a new season they have decided they need a new home. They have moved nesting locations to a different tree on the golf course for reasons maybe they only know.
The new nest is still located on the golf course and in a pine tree that is only slightly taller than the previous one. We were hoping they would return to the home nest where all the cameras are located but they have found another home. With gracious funding from the United States Golf Association and support from The Friends of Harrison Bay State Park, we have been able to continue the Eagle Cam Project and have recently installed a set of three cameras in the new nest.
Electrical power was extended from an existing irrigation control box to power the cameras for this year. We have upgraded the equipment to transmit the signal wirelessly which minimized the amount of trenching needed. We have also upgraded the cameras to 2 megapixel cameras which provide a crystal clear picture.
Angelo Giansante, a park ranger at Hiawassee State Park, was gracious enough to come back down this year to install the cameras in the tree. With better equipment and experience from last year he installed all the camera and secured all the wire in less than four hours.
The nest is about 100 feet in the 120 foot tall pine tree and Angelo said it looked very similar to the one from last year.
As with all projects at Harrison Bay, it was a team effort, but Mitch and Bill were responsible for the electrical and communication portion of the project. Using wireless communication and ethernet cables this year were interesting to figure out but made it much easier to hook up and get working.
Angelo safely back on the ground after another successful camera installation. Hopefully they will stay in this nest for a few years.
We will be working over the next several days to get the video feed out over the internet and loaded onto the website. This is a still photo of the computer monitor in the office using my cell phone camera. The detail and clarity of the new cameras is amazing and we can't wait to share this project with the world.
