Bald Eagle nest webcam

Story in the Toronto Star...

False alarm on B.C. eagle webcast
Apr. 29, 2006. 01:24 PM
DIRK MEISSNER
CANADIAN PRESS


VICTORIA - The light of the world started shining on a tiny eagle chick Friday afternoon whose birth had been eagerly anticipated by millions of Internet surfers.

The tree-top bald eagle's nest on B.C.'s Hornby Island that has been the focus of a cleverly disguised webcam is due to become home to two baby eagles.

Yesterday, onlookers believed the first chick had begun to peck its way out of the shell. But today Doug Carrick, the man broadcasting the webcast, said that was a false alarm.
Carrick now believes that what everyone thought was a crack was instead a piece of fluff.

He says the chicks are now overdue and he is beginning to get worried.

It's been estimated that more than 100 million people have viewed the two bald eagles tending their nest.


Retired accountant Carrick, 73, set up a hidden webcam just above the eagle nest in a tree in his backyard last summer after the eagle pair left for their fall salmon hunt.

By this spring, his experiment was sending images worldwide.

Carrick said he's not certain, but believes the two eagles in his backyard nest are the same pair that have been returning every October for 17 years.

A Vancouver company with expertise in streaming video hosted the webcast for Carrick and Microsoft provided extra bandwidth to accommodate the millions of viewers who have been watching the parents and anticipating the births.

The eagles and their newest addition to the family can be viewed at http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife.

The images broadcast on the Internet are so clear viewers can see the wind ruffle the feathers of the adult eagles.

Hornby Island, accessible only by two ferries or by float plane, is located off the eastern shore of central Vancouver Island.