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Project 4 – 2004 Second Live Cam
Hopes were high for having an osprey cam on the Internet with nesting ospreys for the 2004 season! KEEP asked the USCG if they could assist KEEP/CCES with placing a live cam above a USCG navigation light. Navigation light 59.8 had an osprey nesting pair nesting on the light noted during our osprey nesting surveys since 1999. The pair rebuilt their nest each year putting out the navigation light for the next six months. When the osprey pair returned to nest on the navigation light in 2004, they would find a new KEEP/CCES platform available for the first time above the navigation light with a video camera ready to film the ospreys’ arrival and nesting activities. The female arrived first (see photo) and about a week later her mate joined her. Nest construction on the new platform followed soon after the male returned but not one nest stick before.
Support from Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology (CLO) was again provided and appreciated by the KEEP/CCES second live cam project team. USCG crew, Rocky Sears and Brian Chastain, Caldwell County school system computer technical staff, Mark Higgins, KTVS electrical instructor and CCES students and teacher and KEEP successfully set up a live cam and related equipment high above navigation light 59.8 at Lake Barkley in the center of the lake. Photos
CLO provided the camera, software, air card time, a solar panel and space on their nest cam web site for the 2004 osprey nest cam project. The USCG provided and installed additional solar panels, battery boxes, attachment towers and four 12-volt batteries to provide power for the remote mid-lake camera location. The CCES project teacher donated a personal laptop computer and many volunteer hours for the project. KEEP, Inc. purchased the Internet air card used to transfer live images from the remote nesting site to a cell tower and then to CLO in New York for public viewing on CLO’s web site. KEEP and CCES maintained cam operations throughout the osprey-nesting season. Please visit the archives of this osprey pair’s nest to see a complete visual history with text by CLO from nest building to fledging three chicks atop a USCG navigation light. Our education program has expanded from one school to others around the world through the Internet live cam project and resulting nesting images.
The 2004 Lake Barkley mid-lake osprey cam was very successful providing the very first and many additional images of nesting ospreys in Kentucky. However, the mid-lake site was often short on needed power after several consecutive cloudy days especially in early spring. When the computer ran out of power a rather long cold boat trip was required to use a gas generator to recharge batteries at night. The navigation light was then climbed with an in place ladder to restart the computer inside a USCG provided battery box mounted on the side of the navigation light pole. (photo)
Mid-lake midnight battery charging by boat and later during summer, kayak trips in large waves, avoiding an occasional commercial barge, to restart a computer above the lake on the side of a navigation light was exciting and memorable. However, to improve our reliability KEEP/CCES project leaders decided we should be watchful for a good land location for a future osprey cam location-a location with dependable power and DSL Internet close-by. As usual public memberships and donations would be needed to make future projects possible.
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