Eric Miller, a Wildlife Education Specialist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, remembered the bluebird because of the large tuft of feathers above its left eye. It returned to its nest box at the PGC’s Harrisburg headquarters recently and was nesting three eggs.
“She wants to be a movie star,” says Miller.
The bluebird is the star of a new show, brought to life by the PGC. It debuted on its website a live video camera feed from a bluebird nestbox that the commission hopes will get residents interested in wildlife, and bluebirds in particular.
The technology costs only $200, including a golf-ball sized, color-infrared camera connected to 300 feet of standard RCA cables that bring audio and video into the PGC’s control room and lobby. In the control room, a free live stream web service is used to get the video online. In the lobby, the feed is played on a monitor for visitors.
“You can hear them chirping when the adults bring back food, and it was interesting seeing them build the actual nest,” says Jerry Feaser, the PGC’s press secretary. “It was behavior not previously seen. People love it.”
Once threatened by the arrival of English sparrows and European starlings, bluebirds are competitive again, although Feaser said the PGC had to remove English sparrows nesting material and install monofilament fishing line over the nest box entrance hole to keep the sparrows away.
Moisture and a technological problem–night activity isn’t visible because of a manufacturing glitch with the camera, which has been fixed for the next model–have been the only gaffes for this first-run production, but Feaser and Miller expect other state wildlife will soon star in their own live web cams. The PGC is also putting together an educational DVD from the bluebird footage.
Source: Eric Miller, Jerry Feaser, Pennsylvania Game Commission
Writer: Joe Petrucci