Technology & Technical Team

2012-02-18 Camera after Wireless Bridge Installation 1 (IMG_0883)

Viewing nesting behavior over the Internet, rather than observing the birds directly, avoids activity near the nest that could lead the adults to abandon it.

Tri-State’s research uses four cameras at various locations in the Vulture Shed. These include one Canon pan/tilt/zoom camera, two Foscam pan/tilt cameras, and one Foscam pan/tilt/zoom camera. These cameras transmit video from the nest site to a router over an Ethernet cable. From the router, video is streamed via the Internet to a server and then streamed from the server using Blue Iris software. The video is embedded on this website using UStream.

The WordPress software used for this website permits viewing from mobile phones. Simply open the browser on your mobile phone and enter the desired page, such as http://chimneyswifts.net/tristate/?page_id=294, in order to go directly to the “Live Video of Nest” page.

Many people’s technical expertise have made this research and website possible, including:

* Bird handling and husbandry: Aimee Federer, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research Inc.
* Wing tagging: Dr. Erica Miller, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research Inc. and David Barber, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.
* Camera and software selection and use: Mike Postolan, Glenham, NY
* Computer and power maintenance: Doug Nichol and Greg Keegan, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research Inc.
* Computer systems administration: Mike Poirier, Sigma Data Systems, Inc.
* Forum administration: Lynn Helck, RaptorX Forum
* Website administration and project coordination: Bob Bryant, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research Inc.

Detailed behavioral observations are made by many “Vigilant Vulture Viewers” (aka “V-cube”) who watch and document daily interactions of the vultures.

If you experience a problem viewing any part of this website, please post it in the COMMENTS section on the “Live Video of Nest” page.