[Bristol-Birds] Bald Eagle nesting season underway and ETSU eagle cam in place
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2015 13:11:36 -0500
BAEA nest photo from above near Bluff City 24 Nov 2015.jpg
This photo looks into the massive Bald Eagle nest upstream from Bluff City
on the South Fork Holston River in Sullivan County, TN and was taken
Tuesday, 24 Nov 2015. The adult eagles are actively preparing to nest. The
nest is four-feet in diameter and the inside bowl eight-inches below the
rim.
Eagles have been perching together in a nearby staging tree for weeks and
Monday began to copulate. They have visited the nest and been seen to add
fresh branches of green pine foliage which marks the site as occupied.
The Department of Biological Sciences at ETSU is coordinating a project to
place a camera near the nest in order to provide 24/7 live video
transmission of
the nest activities to the public during this breeding season. The site at
this Bluff City
nest now has the camera and sound microphone in place. It will soon be
on an ETSU biology website where visitors can follow the nesting activity
for many coming months. Amature ornithologists, who study local eagles,
have worked constantly with the effort since its inception, both as
advisors,
facilitators with the Bluff City landowner and providing information to ETSU
as to contact persons and supporter access to local utilities in Bristol,
off road
transportation and coordinating critical communication and logistics. They
have also taken part in several meetings both with the ETSU staff and
others.
BAEA and bucket truck Bluff City 23 Nov 2015.jpgThe Bristol Tennessee
Essential Services
(electric/internet/telephone/
cable) system quickly
embraced the project and
has supplied electricity to
the Bluff City nest site
as well providing the camera,
microphone and many
other components, services,
labor and engineering support.
BTES installed a transformer
on a nearby street -side pole,
and erected a pole in the woods
near the nest site. They ran
a surface distribution system
between the poles and then
to the base of the camera tree
and installed a distribution box
and ran a high-speed fiber optic
cable up the camera tree to carry
a two-strand fiber optic line. BTES
installed both the camera and
microphone for sound.
The live signal is carried over the BTES cable video backbone system into
the utility's office and service center on the Volunteer Parkway across the
highway from the Mad Greek Restaurant. There they
have quality control and 24-hour technical support to
manage and distribute the live video and sound from the
nest. Customers with BTES extended cable TV channels
will have a 24/7 feed on a channel soon to be placed in service.
The signal will also be sent directly to the ETSU biological
science department (and/or ETSU IT services) where their
people will deliver it free to the public over a live-streaming
website on the internet.
BAEA Bluff City nest junction box 23 2015.jpg
Fundraising for this camera site was not required since BTES has taken
such an interest in providing the service for subscribers throughout
most of Sullivan County from the foot of Holston Mountain at South
Holston Lake to inside the Kingsport City Limits in several places.
However,
some Bristol area folks have made check donations to ETSU for the
overall project which includes work underway on a Johnson City eagle
nest across the lake from Winged Deer Park. Both the Johnson City and
Bluff City nests are on private land and the landowners extremely
cooperative
and supportive. Since a deadline of 1 Dec is pending when no further
installation
work can be carried out near the nests by U.S. Fish & Wildlife regulations,
it
remains to be seen if the Johnson City eagle cam nest can be completed in
time for this nesting season or must wait until the 2017 nesting season.
ETSU
officials are working hurriedly to do what they can. A camera has been
ordered and shipment is awaited. That installation involves a different
approach because bucket trucks are not expected to be able to access the
site. Two utility poles are being installed on either side of Willmary Rd.
to
carry lines over the traffic lanes and the Johnson City Power Board will
ditch
from one of the poles to the camera tree location (less than a hundred
feet).
Charter Cable is providing technical support and much of the tree
installation
will be accomplished by a climber.
BAEA Bluff City trucks at nest 23 Nov 2015.jpg
The Bluff City eagle nest was found by members of the Bristol Bird Club
28 Jan 2012 and is the first Bald Eagle's nest found in the five-county
Northeast Tennessee area. It has been successful for three season and the
pair is judged
to be stable.
Look forward to enjoying the ETSU eagle cams.
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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- » [Bristol-Birds] Bald Eagle nesting season underway and ETSU eagle cam in place - Wallace Coffey
