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Millions await B.C. eagle hatching on live webcam
Updated Fri. Apr. 28 2006 12:10 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Millions of fascinated bird lovers continue to log on to a website for regular webcam updates on the imminent hatching of two B.C. bald eagle eggs.

Last month, a 73-year-old retired accountant and avid bird watcher set up the hidden webcam, now known as the 'eagle eye cam,' above the nest in Hornby Island, B.C.

And the results of his online nature experiment have generated at least 100 million hits world-wide.

Doug Carrick, whose backyard has hosted the pair of nesting eagle for 17 years, says he expects the two eggs to hatch sometime this weekend.

"It looks like it will be at least another day or two," Carrick told The Canadian Press on Thursday.

While the site has had high traffic since it launched on March 27, the spike in the sheer number of visitors over the last few days has almost overloaded the server.

Carrick has had to post a request asking visitors to shut down the Internet browser when they are not watching the nest.

"We actually had 22 million hits over a two-day period this week," Arthur Griffiths, the spokesman for the Vancouver-based company helping broadcast the eagle images on the Internet, told CP.

The site uses a special encoder that transmits clear, seamless images that offer a unique insight into the nesting behaviour of eagles.

"It's astounding. I've got the camera up so close to them. It's right on them. You can feel their personalities," Carrick said.

The pair of birds share parenting duties on shifts. One will hunt while the other sits on the eggs and tidies the nest. The two birds change shifts with what has been called 'an almost military-like precision.'

Carrick set up the small camera two years ago and showed the footage to David Hancock, a B.C. biologist.

"I happened to see a video he made, and looking at that video, it was the best look I had ever had of bald eagle behaviour," Hancock told Canada AM Friday.

"I've been studying them for more than 50 years, and what I saw in that 37 minute video changed my whole attitude on the behaviour of eagles."

The webcam is encased in wood and plexiglass, and is mounted just a few inches from the nest.

The experience has sparked the interest of the natural world in people around the globe.

Carrick has received calls from Venezuela and the U.S. trying to find out how to implement similar technology to watch other species.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...?hub=TopStories

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