Remember that webcam I mentioned last week? It got so popular so fast, they’ve already redesigned a “proper” front page, added forums, put up some ads, and hinted at a “premium” feed option in the future. Amazingly, there seems to be no grousing over the idea that these people can’t do this for free. In fact, there have been a few threads in the forums suggesting that they take Paypal donations and asking how they can contribute to make sure the feed keeps running smoothly (at this time it’s grown a tad jerky).
It’s nice to see people on the Internet realize that when a small project suddenly starts getting 2 million visitors a day with over 4500 simultaneous viewers, you can’t really keep it up for free. I guess it also helps that a number of people on the forums appear to be teachers who are excited about the prospect of showing a live hatching to their classes.
I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Infotec on this one. These guys have been on the forums asking and answering questions; tirelessly working on the feed as the demand has increased, and even assured everybody that there will continue to be a free live stream for everybody to see the eggs hatch. Way to go guys!
And here’s some quick facts I found in the forum:
* The Eggs are expected to hatch sometime in the third week of april. The incubation takes about 36 days!
* The nest is located on Hornby Island, Vancouver, BC, Canada
* The nest is sitting in a tree at the top of a 150ft cliff!
* The Camera is located next to the nest (literally) and is connected to an Infotec ‘Galaxy Encoder’ box situated nearby.
* The stream will be live well into the days when the baby eagles are old enough to leave the nest
* We don’t currently have an infrared camera, so at night time, expect it to be dark!
I just got to watch the mother swap out with the father again – and yes, I’d easily contribute 25 bucks to make sure it wouldn’t be so jerky next time.