About

Nest Cams are video recording devices setup to provide livestreamed footage of bird nests to viewers online.

Origin

In the mid to late 1990s, advances in computer networking and digital camera technology made livestreaming video more accessible to the general public. In 1998, one of the earliest known bird cams was installed to view the nest of a violet-green swallow nicknamed "Gracie" (shown below). In 2003, the cam was shutdown.^[13]

Spread

On March 30th, 2005, the bird enthusiast site Beakspeak^[9] launched a Birdcams^[10] list with links to live video feeds of birds. In January 2006, the UrbanHawks^[2] blog was launched for news and information about birds of prey living in city environments, including various nest cam sites. That year, a cam was setup for viewing a pair of nesting bald eagles in British Columbia, Canada.^[11]

Washington Square Park Hawk Nest

In 2011, a red-tailed hawk mother and her mate constructed a nest for her eggs on a ledge outside of NYU President John Sexton's office location above Washington Square Park in New York, New York. The New York Times, subsequently set up a 24-hour livestream camera viewing the birds named Bobby and Violet (shown below).^[3] On December 29th, Violet died from a heart attack after an emergency surgery to repair a leg injury.^[4]

In January 2012, the New York Times^[5] ran a pool to choose the name for a new hawk that had taken residence in the Washington Square Park area, with readers deciding on the name Rosie (shown below). In the fall of 2014, Rosie went missing, with many speculating that she died from eating poisoned prey. In February 2015, a new female hawk named Aurora arrived at the park.^[6]

Cornell University Hawk Nest

In 2012, a live cam was installed to view the nest of a red-tailed hawk nicknamed "Big Red" at Cornell University's athletic fields. The YouTube channel for Cornell's Lab of Ornithology subsequently launched a live-updated video page for the cam (shown below).

Osprey Cam

Also in 2012, the Friends of Island Beach State Park installed a camera viewing the nest of an Osprey family. In 2015, the cam was shut down due to insuffient funds.^[7]

Washington, D.C. Bald Eagle Cam

In 2014, a cam was setup for q nest site located in Tulip Poplar tree at the United States National Arboretum in Washington, D.C, occupied by two bald eagles nicknamed "Mr. President" and "The First Lady." On March 18th, 2016, an eaglet was born, followed by a second eaglet 48 hours later. On Twitter, many viewers posted their tweets about the news (shown below). The same day, The Daily Dot^[8] published an article about online reactions to the births.

Search Interest

External References