Southwest Florida Eagle Cam up and running
All the cameras have been fixed and placed where they need to be, and it will be just a matter of time before we get to see the exploits of Harriett, M15 and their babies for the fifth season of the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam.
The cameras went online Sunday afternoon, said Andrew Pritchett, of Carter-Pritchett Advertising, who runs the eagle cam. Throughout the week they have been working on the cameras, putting the infrared light in and taking care of all the behind-the-scenes work to get it going.
As a result, there have been interruptions in the feed, but that won’t be for long.
“We’ve been trying to get all our settings together and working on any bugs that might happen. Oct. 1 is the opening of nest season and we’re hopefully going to have everything worked out,” Pritchett said.
There hasn’t been much action yet, as the eagles are busy rebuilding their nest, which collapsed right about the time their first brood of eaglets fledged. Slowly, it has been taking shape.
For the last few weeks the eagles have been on nest duty, with M15 bringing in the twigs and straw and Harriett being the guide to tell him where to place it.
“The best time to catch them is early in the morning or late evening. We also have a lot of ground reporters at the nest to keep an eye on them and take photographs of them bringing in material,” Pritchett said. “In the last couple weeks it’s been amazing what nature has been able to accomplish.”
What you won’t be able to do right away is chat. The chatroll is currently disabled and won’t be back online until the time is near for Harriett to lay her eggs.
“During the beginning of the season there isn’t much going on. They’re in and out of the nest. To have it open would mean having a lot of volunteers continually participating,” Pritchett said. “It’s in everyone’s best interest that because of all the involvement we would let people enjoy the scenery.”
The setup will be the same as last year, with the main camera overhead, a second one at a further distance and the third, which was brought in last year, to get a view of the entire Pritchett farm area of Old Bayshore Road.
Currently, there are only maybe 100 or so watching at any given time. When the eggs are about to hatch, they have had as many as several thousand watch.
To watch the eagles, go to dickpritchettrealestate.com/eagle-feed.html