New Eaglets have Arrived at Harrison Bay

We are thrilled and blessed to announce the hatching of two eaglets at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay.  The first eaglet arrived on Wed. March 20, 2013 around 7:30 AM and the second arrived Thurs. March 21, 2013 around 7:30 PM.  Both eaglets appear to be strong, healthy, and thriving.  This is great news, especially considering the failure of the two eggs last year.

 

This is a video of the first eaglet hatching.  What a wonderful site.

 

 

Feeding time this afternoon.

 

I can not thank the United States Golf Association and the Friends of Harrison Bay State Park for their funding and support.  Without these great sponsors this project would not be possible.

 

It was great to see the little ones come into the world but as a result of all the attention the website crashed and our web host has been working diligently to get it back up and going.  We are so sorry for any inconvenience this has caused any of our visitors.  In the meantime you can view the video feed at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/harrison-bay-eagle-cam

 

Hope everyone is enjoying this awesome site.

TurfNet article about Elliott and Eloise

The great folks at TurfNet continue to promote the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam as they have for the past several years.  Below is the latest article by my good friend John Reitman of TurfNet.



Bird's eye view

Mar 04 2013 | John Reitman

Monitoring the happenings high atop the trees in Tennessee's Harrison Bay State Park has resulted in some recent highs and lows and the constant reminder that nothing in life, even tomorrow, is guaranteed.

 

Two years ago, a pair of bald eagles first were spotted near The Bear Trace golf course within the park. They gained worldwide acclaim when park ranger Angelo Giasante, a former Army ranger, shimmied up the tree and installed a Web cam so people everywhere could get a birds-eye view of how a nesting pair of bald eagles really live thanks to the efforts of a group known as the Friends of Harrison Bay .

 

Named Elliott and Eloise by Hannah Carter, daughter of Bear Trace superintendent Paul Carter, CGCS, the eagles have had mixed results in their attempts to successfully hatch eaglets. In 2011, a pair of eaglets hatched and eventually flew the coop, so to speak. Last year, however, the results were not as positive.

 

Two eggs, laid February 11 and 14, hatched March 16, but neither eaglet survived the process. This year, the Web cam is back in place and the couple is again keeping vigil over the nest after Eloise laid another pair of eggs.

 

The eggs, which were laid Feb. 10 and 13, are expected to hatch about March 17.

 

Last year, the golf course received a Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award from Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam for Carter's work in the pursuit of sustainability. The award specifically mentioned the Eagle Cam project as a factor in the course winning the award.

 

In its 26th year, the Governor's Environmental Stewardship Awards program recognizes exceptional voluntary actions that improve or protect Tennessee's environment and natural resources with projects or initiatives not required by law or regulation.  

 

According to the Web site www.baldeagleinfo.com and the American Bald Eagle Foundation [http://baldeagles.org/home], both the male and female share time guarding and incubating the nest for an average of 35 days before the eggs hatch. Once an endangered species, bald eagles are on the rebound thanks to conservation efforts that have resulted in an estimated 7,000-plus pairs now nesting in every state except Hawaii. 

 

The Friends of Harrison Bay Eagle Project is a cooperative effort of The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, Harrison Bay State Park and the USGA.

New Season, New Tree, New Equipment

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.

Eagle Cam Project Sponsors

Like most projects the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project could not exist without support and funding from some great sources.  We have been extremely fortunate that our sponsors and partners have stepped up to make this project possible.

Our major sponsors of the project are The Friends of Harrison Bay State Park and the United States Golf Association Green Section.  From the beginning these two organizations have shown great excitement about the project and how it will help to show how our golf course is a good habitat for wildlife.

It is projects like this that you find out who your true friends are.  When funding for the project became an issue my friends of the East Tennessee Golf Course Superintendents Association and friends from the MIddle Tennessee Golf Course Superintendents Association came through with a donation that helped to push the project along. The TORO Company and Smith Turf and Irrigation, our local TORO distributor, also came on board with a donation to help out the cause.

Our local utility district Volunteer Electric Cooperative also believed in the project and provided funding for the project through its local grant program.

We can not thank our sponsors and partners enough for funding and supporting the Eagle Cam Project and we hope to make it a huge success.