Pix Controller have several interesting items to report this week:
There is a flock of turkey that seem to be coming into the main camera almost every day now. They have a flock of hens (female birds) that is about 10 birds total. Within this flock is a hen with a beard. This is very unusual since only the male birds have beards. The “beard” of a turkey hangs down from the middle of the turkey’s chest and looks like a horse tail. Scientists call the “hairs” of the beard “bristles” or “mesofiloplumes” (“MEZ-uh-FILL-uh-ploomz”) — stiff, feather-like structures.
They were able to capture some pretty good footage of the hen with the beard. She's been seen since last year but they didn't have the PTZ camera or the broadcasts provided by WildEarth to record the activity like they can now. (see attached photo)
Related Hotspot:
Bearded Hen
The White Tailed Deer remote motion-activated scrape camera has seen some action. They have broadcast several younger bucks working the scrap site over and we have one great recorded hotspot of a very mature 8-point whitetail buck following a doe in the early morning hours. Hopefully they will continue to see action on this remote camera as the mating season winds down at the end of this month.
Related Hotspots:
Buck on scrape camera
Button buck works over scrape
Doe looking at scrape
Big 8-point buck following doe
They now have their remote motion-activated carcass camera up and running. They get deer carcasses from their local game commission. These are road killed deer and they put them to good use. They started this camera last year and it was very successful at bringing in predators such as fox and coyotes, and of course many raccoons. They also had a lot of action during the day from hawks and turkey vultures. They plan to run the remote carcass camera site until spring time when it starts warming up again.
Related Hotspots:
Raccoons on carcass camera
Red Fox on carcass camera
Opossum on carcass camera
David Hancock and the Hancock Wildlife Foundation Eagle Cams.
David Hancock from the Hancock Wildlife Foundation is streaming two new cameras onto WE and there are more to come. David is eagle man and true to style these are both eagle related. The first is called Chehalis Platform Cam. This is a camera that has been placed on a platform on the Chehalis Flats.
The Chehalis Flats are at the end of the Chehalis River that comes from the northwest in British Columbia. This river and the Harrison River contain some of the richest salmon spawning shallows in the world. All five salmon thrive here along with steelhead and rainbow trout. Spawning season is happening right now and thousands of salmon carcasses are being washed down the river system to feed the eagles. David Hancock has set up platforms along the estuary to allow you to watch the eagles and other wildlife feeding on the spawning salmon. In the past more than 1000 eagles have been seen in this area on a single day so these cameras promise to be phenomenal.
In addition to the estuary cameras, they have an underwater camera (seen as Chehalis trout cam on WildEarth) in the spawning channel at the entrance to the Chehalis fish hatchery. This gives spectacular live views of these fish under the water.
During the Eagle Festival (November 20th,21st) David will hopefully be featuring some video taken by hand-held cameras in and around the Tapedira area to the West of the Estuary. Included in these they are hoping to have interviews with and commentaries by local naturalists and conservationists.
David continues to broadcast from OWL cam one and two and Sidney cam one and two. Both of these have been incredible and WE were very honoured to get them on our site at the beginning of this year. Recently eagles have been seen at the nests again preparing for the next season, so watch this space.
Doug Carrick's Hornby Island Eagle Cam
Doug Carrick’s Hornby Island Eagle Cam is back for the 2009-2010 season. This very special pair of bald eagles are already back in the nest and yesterday they were seen moving sticks and twigs around to make the nest habitable again. The nest was discovered in 2006 and has been broadcasting ever since. This glimpse into the lives of a pair of bald eagles is amazing and WE are honoured to have it on our site. For more info on these eagles go to www.hornbyeagles.com
Pot Plant Owl
Alan and Tracey woke up one morning in Johannesburg, South Africa and looked out onto their balcony to find an owl staring back at them from a pot plant just outside their bedroom window. It was a spotted eagle owl and it remained there the whole day. As night came this magnificent bird of prey flew off into the darkness. The next day she was back and has remained there ever since. On August 21st 2009 she laid the first of three eggs in the pot plant. The male bird comes in regularly to help raise the chicks and Alan and Tracy share their living space with these wonderful birds. Now we have a camera watching these birds live as they go about their daily business. It offers insight into their feeding patterns both as tiny chicks and as mature adults. You can watch the special bond she has with these chicks and watch this incredible piece of nature unfold. To find out more about the story log on to www.potplantowl.co.za.
Above is a picture of Allimo Mahanuke. She is a Shangaan lady from the village of Dixie and will be stepping in for Siphiwe whilst she is on maternity leave. Allimo is married to Pete Marimane who is a well known guide in the area and in fact has guided at Djuma a few years a go. Together they have two children, both little girls. One is called Trudy and is four years old and the other is Tildah who is only eight months. Allimo has bought them in to the WildEarth camp and much to the delight of our crew Trudy often walks around with Tildah tied with a towel on her back - in the true African way.
Allimo is perfect for the job of WildEarth Zoomie as she has a diploma in computing and also loves animals. WE are sure that she will be as calm as Siphiwe when the computers go down and there is panic all around. Good luck Allimo and WElcome to the team.
Siphiwe is just about ready to pop and is very tired these days. Her last day will be Saturday 14th November and WE wish her all the best with the birth of her third child. Siphiwe will join us again next year around March time. Below is a picture of her looking beautiful and glowing.
As of this morning Operation Migration are on Day 21 of the southward migration and they have already covered 94.4 airmiles. Only 1190.6 miles to go! It really is a mission.
They are planning to do another leg today. If they manage it weather wise (which looks really possible) they'll be ahead of last year by 3 days.Today's leg will put the team in Illinois, and just 55 miles shy of a milestone of 10,000 miles. That's 10,000 miles guiding Whooping Cranes South to their new winter terminus. What an amazing achievement.
After a rocky start when the birds seemed reluctant to follow the trikes, the last two flights have seen all 20 young Whooping cranes eagerly following, and the last migration leg had all of them lined up beautifully behind one ultralight.
As most of you have probably seen the broadcast is intermittent on www.wildearth.tv. This is because they are not broadcasting when the trike is not in the air. However, the weather has improved greatly and the flights are becoming more frequent so keep your eyes on this channel as when it does pop up it is spectacular.