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Montezuma Osprey Nest-cam 2011
Update April 11 2011. The Osprey Camera is back for another season just in time to see a pair of Osprey start fixing up their nest for the new year. See below for still pictures which update every 25 seconds. Streaming (full motion) Video is not available from this location. View live (full motion) video on a large screen TV by visiting the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.
Trials and Tribulations of maintaining a wildlife webcam: Over the winter, the cable that connects from the nest to our microwave transmitter got flooded and lost our connection. Fortunately, the undersater part of the cable from the platform has survived for another year. It has now sunken into the mud to be relateively immune to the depradations of chewing muskrats. This time, it was an old repair to the cable that flooded inside a conduit we installed to protect it from future chewing. It was simply a matter of finding the break in continuity in 1000 feet of cable and we are back on the air.
Scroll below the picture for webcam information and information about the osprey.
The 2 baby osprey have fledged but still visit the nest.
Why is the signal bad between 6 and 8 pm? We wondered too, but determined that the 5.8 ghz microwave tranmitter link to the visitor center is in alignment with the setting sun at this time and time of year. The noise in the picture is actually noise received from the sun!
Osprey nest camera 2010 Images are updated every 25 seconds. Hours of operation are 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM in the Eastern Daylight Time Zone. At other times you will see the message "no signal" onscreen. Also, long periods of rain and clouds may cause interruption of solar powered camera and signal transmitter. Signal outage may continue for some time until sun can recharge the battery. (You may periodically get a blank picture. Click here to refresh the image or wait for the 25 second reload.)
The osprey platform is located in a marsh on the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge about two miles from the Visitor Center. A single coaxial cable about 1500 feet long connects the camera which is mounted above the platform to a transmitter which is mounted some 65 feet up in a tree that has a clear view of the visitor center. The coaxial cable delivers power to the camera as well as video and audio to the transmitter by means of rf wideband modulator and demodulators. The transmitter, camera, and microphone are all powered from a solar collector that is mounted in an adjoining marsh. Power during periods of low sunlight is supplemented by a storage battery that receives its charge from the solar collector. The microwave signal is received at the visitor center where it can be viewed on a large screen monitor. The signal is then uploaded to the internet through a video server connected the T1 Internet connection at the refuge office. |
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