Thursday, January 22, 2015

notgoat cams

It occurred to me...
since there has been interest in stills from my goatcams, some of my readers may enjoy exploring livecams available online?

In the early 1990s, I sometimes watched a livecam of Dublin while working (endlessly, it seemed, but happily) on my Master's Thesis. I had not yet been to Ireland for on-the-ground research, and it was a little bit magical to have that realtime connection. Of course, when I actually spent 15 days in Ireland in 1995, I chose to spend about five minutes in Dublin, and nearly every waking moment out in the countryside; afoot or on horseback or in a boat. It was splendid. Extremely low-budget, with a backpack full of a change of clothes and about 40 pounds of camera, film, tripod, and research material. I later estimated that I walked over a hundred miles. As I say...

it was splendid. 

And now, gosh, 20(!) years later, I sometimes watch webcams of wildlife and places I would love to visit (afoot or on horseback or in a boat - really, some preferences never change, however unrealistic). Here are a couple of websites you might be interested in visiting. The images below are just screenshots, but the links will take you to the (much better quality) real thing.



I found the Shetland livecams during my first experience (online, that is) of Up Helly Aa, which will be happening - and livestreamed again - in just just a few days, on Tuesday, 27 January! So exciting!

Year-round, the Shetland cams offer several views of Lerwick,
and audio from the local radio station.
My favorite puffincam is sadly not up this year,
but any view of the ocean is very welcome here
at landlocked Cloud Harvest Cashmere.



And speaking of birds...

the Cornell Ornithology Lab has several livecams, in various locations. This linked list conveniently indicates which are live at the moment: 


This morning I watched a fantastic new camera in Savannah, Georgia.

(If you left-click on an image, I think it will embiggen. Worth trying!)

When I started watching this Great Horned Owl nest,
it was early morning and soft light...



and as time went on*
the sun began to light the branches, and then the mama owl's face.


  *it can be mesmerizing to watch these cameras. Just sayin'...

this is why I almost always have my goatcams open
in one corner of my laptop.
How else would I have discovered that
Azalea is also doing some bird-watching?


Or learned that Acer and Betula have taken on
the responsibility of supervising the snowplow,
on the road far below:



Because after all,
we humans are not the only ones
who like to keep a close eye on things,
from the comfort of our own nests!

~~~

Do you have any favorite livestreaming cameras?
Please share your recommendations
in the comments!
~~~~~

17 comments:

  1. You totally have to go to the Berry College eaglecam site! http://www.berry.edu/eaglecam/
    and see the whole process, egg to fledging of bald eagles. They can be seen via infrared at night, too, if you forget to look during the day.

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    1. Brilliant! Thanks, Boud!
      When Bald Eagles were reintroduced in central MA, I was once invited to climb up and visit the hacking tower. Years later, I often see bald eagles quite close to home :)
      But a birdcam certainly provides a view we'd otherwise never see!

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    2. Boud, I just visited the eaglecam...yep! Another winner! :)

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  2. I was not aware that there were such livecams set up! I am definitely going to be checking out the GH owl (we used to have these in our woods at home). And the bald eagle sounds amazing. Thanks so much for sharing this! I can see my time slipping away ..... Wendy x

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  3. Bristol zoo, tapir enclosure! They are my dream exotic pet, I love them!
    My mum bought me for Christmas, as bird nesting box cam, which you can view on the TV or laptop. My brother has one we call "Barneycan" as he has an overwintering blue tit, nick named Barney.

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  4. ok ... I'm hooked on this thing!! If you're there, take a quick look now at the Ontario feeder and tell me if you recognize this bird. It looks like a hawk, but it's eating seeds? Wendy (11:19 a.m.)

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    Replies
    1. actually, I think it was a ruffed grouse or something similar ... it turned around and I got a better look ... gone now. Ok, I need to get some work done here now ;)

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    2. Oh yes...this is how it begins... ;)

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  5. Thanks for this. I've saved the Shetland cam and will view it tomorrow in daylight.

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    1. I hope you enjoy the Shetland views, Ilona! Makes me want to visit. And you're close enough that maybe you could :)

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  6. I used to watch a puppycam in a rescue facility, to show off these dear little guys needing a home. But they kept on sitting down on the camera and all you could see was dark!

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  7. Fun stuff! My cousin in England had a livecam on the nestlings in his birdhouses. It was so neat to watch them.

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  8. The goat photos are adorable! Thank you for the laughs
    I looked this morning for the African cam I use to watch years ago, but didn't find it. There are Africams of other places. There was also an eagle's nest in Maine

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  9. Mine to watch are from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey CA. They have numerous cameras.

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  10. I must admit to watching the Shetland cams from time to time ... we have been harbouring dreams of moving to Shetland for many years, even though the friends we had there have since moved on.

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  11. Blogger just ate my comment! The main thing I said was that, sadly, we have bad internet (satellite) so we can't even reliably watch short videos! It sounds like live-streaming ones are tons of fun!

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  12. You know, webcam watching is something I've never thought about doing. I do like the idea of a goatcam, however! Or a chickencam, or a pigcam, or a kittycam. :)

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