WABASHA, MINN.
The Eag
Center are now online and can be viewed 24-hours a day via live streaming
video.
March 2010 marked the beginning of a new
era for the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota, as our first Eagle webcams stream live video to the
Internet.
Up-n-Running Consulting’s Grant Jensen,
Winona, Minn., developed the live Eagle webcams to allow viewers to watch the
daily habits and care of the rehabilitated Eagles that live in the center. Jensen
volunteered his services to acquire donated equipment for the project and designed
the webcam networking system that allows National Eagle Center website visitors to
stream live images of the resident Eagles.
“I received three IQeye HD megapixel network cameras from IQinVision, iqeye.com, network hardware from
Tapemark, tapemark.com, and other equipment from Steve Schewe, servers from Hewlett
Packard, hp.com, and camera management software from Milestone Systems, milestonesys.com,
for the project,” said Jensen.
The Eagle webcam project includes five webcams. Four of the cameras are positioned to cover
the perched Eagles and one that will broadcast classroom presentations.
“The image quality of our streaming video is fantastic,” said Jeff Worrell, Executive Director of the National
Eagle Center. “The Eagle cam project is a vital way for the Eagle Center to
expand making its resources available to everyone with intensions to include
even those unable to travel to Wabasha to visit our facilities.”
The classroom camera will allow people to audit
lectures; demonstrations and other activities remotely so that they can
experience the National Eagle Center to further understand why the Bald Eagle
is our national symbol.
“I thoroughly enjoy working with Grant,”
said Heath Sershen,
technology development manager at the National Eagle Center. “He has a wealth of information technology integration knowledge that
will allow our website visitors an interactive experience.”
The driving motivation behind the installation of the webcams was to allow
people interested in the rehabilitation of Eagles to watch the progress in
real-time from the comfort of their own homes. The Eagle webcams also give supporters the opportunity
to view our birds in action during the day.
“Our
visitors love the streaming video,” Sershen said. “Many of our visitors live in
different cities and come to Wabasha to spend time with the Eagles. The webcams
allow long-distance access to the center and the opportunity to watch their
favorite Eagles from the time the cameras come on in the morning until the time
the lights go out in the evening. It’s a great way to stay connected to the
center and to the birds that they have come to know.”
The
National Eagle Center is an organization that began and continues as grassroots
effort among like-minded people who realize that our nation’s symbol and its
habitat deserve and need vigilant stewardship. From humble beginnings in the late ‘80s, the National Eagle
Center has grown to be America’s acknowledged authority on Eagles and boasts a
distinctive, 15,000 square foot interpretive center on the bank of the
Mississippi River in Wabasha, Minn.
The center is home to four permanently injured rehabilitated Bald Eagles
and one Golden Eagle.
You
can find out more about Up-n-Running Consulting, Inc., Winona, Minn., by
visiting their website found at www.up-n-running.com.
You
can also log-on and view the Eagle Cams at www.NationalEagleCenter.org.