Sunday, January 15, 2012

Wolf River eagles ready for their closeup

By David Horst   sandhill7@gmail.com

New London -- Last winter, productivity slumped in offices across the country during feeding time at an eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa, where three eaglets became webcam stars.

Since this nest-eye view went online in February 2010, the site has recorded more than 212 million views from more than 20 million unique viewers.

This season, a new show comes to a URL near you featuring a nest in the backyard of a Shiocton-area family. The people behind it are hoping for even a small share of Decorah's visibility.

I went along the Saturday before Christmas when Pat Fisher, who runs the New London bird rehabilitation center The Feather, led a small, mechanized crew of volunteers to wire up an 80-foot-tall white pine for the season premier.

The installation came courtesy of Gary Bunnell, known to area fishermen and hunters for his underwater fish cams and deer cams at WolfRiverCam.com. He got an assist from a bucket truck and crew provided by Great Lakes Line Builders in Greenville, a division of M.J. Electric Inc. The conservation group Shadows on the Wolf helped pay for the camera.

"It's a three-way deal," Bunnell said. "We're able to educate and entertain, and help Pat and help Shadows on the Wolf."

Lower Wisconsin - May 18-20, Spring Green to Blue River