Nesting bald eagles are nothing new to the Triangle, but this year one eagle couple has a much bigger audience as they raise two chicks on Jordan Lake.
A camera mounted above their nest provides streaming online video of the family's activities, giving viewers an inside look as the parents take turns keeping the chicks warm and bringing in freshly caught fish.
The eaglets hatched this month, and the website has received tens of thousands of hits and about 1,500 visitors from more than a dozen countries since it was put up in December. The chicks should remain on the nest until they fully develop in mid-April.
The Triangle's first eagle-watchingvideo project started as a bird-watching class field trip for an N.C. State University biology class.
"Everyone out there on that trip thought most people would be amazed to know that bald eagles are nesting right here in the Triangle and that populations are growing," said Ted Simons, a professor of biology at NCSU who came up with the idea for the camera while showing his students the nests at Jordan Lake.
The live feed includes a "citizen science" initiative that allows viewers to submit journals to NCSU with their observations and records of feeding patterns. Other than providing easy access to the reclusive lives of bald eagles, researchers hope the project will teach people about conservation efforts and the birds' comeback.
After facing extinction in the middle of the 20th century, the bald eagle population in North Carolina and throughout the country has grown rapidly, nearly doubling over the past decade, Simons said. Populations in North Carolina have increased from a single breeding pair in 1984 to more than 70 today, and there are five active nests on Jordan Lake, according to NCSU.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tracks eagle nests throughout the Triangle, and has been monitoring the eagles featured in the video during the past several breeding seasons. The eagles, who are over 8 years old, have previously nested in the state park campgrounds, in a dead hardwood tree near N.C. 751; they came to their current nest in a pine tree on Jordan Lake in 2009, said Francis Ferrell, a conservation biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers.
"I don't know what it is about them, but you get a lot of response from people when you start talking about eagles," Ferrell said. "To see them in person or catching a fish just seems to really grab people."
With a wingspan of more than 7 feet, and nests that can weigh up to 2 tons, there is a drama to bald eagles that draws people in, Simons said.
"They're spectacular animals," he said. "The interest in watching the birds has really taken off."
The eagle camera is powered with solar batteries that beam a signal to a nearby barn, which transmits it to a server at NCSU in Raleigh. It's similar to analog television technology, said John Wettroth, a managing director with Maxim Integrated Products, a chip company based in California who developed the video technology for the project.
"The most challenging part was getting the thing 60 feet up in a tree with no cellular coverage." Wettroth said. "It's two miles from anywhere."
But he enjoys the challenge and now watches the birds at least an hour each day.
"I'm addicted, but my wife's more addicted than I am," he said. "I like to watch them in the morning and right before the sun goes down. It gets me out of my world."
