Behind the Scenes of Our Bird Cams [Video]

In the spring of 2012 we launched our Bird Cams project with live, high-definition views of a Red-tailed Hawk nest on the Cornell campus. A similar camera on a Great Blue Heron nest outside our offices launched several weeks later, followed by Ospreys, kestrels, loons, and other species. The project quickly attracted legions of fans and a fast-moving yet tight-knit group of chatters supported by more than three dozen volunteer moderators. Since then, our Bird Cams have been watched by hundreds of thousands of people for a cumulative amount of time best measured in centuries.

To recap some of the Bird Cams’ highlights so far, and to offer fans a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make the cams work, project leader Charles Eldermire gave a seminar in our Visitor Center auditorium on Nov. 18, 2013. It seemed only fair to turn the livestreaming cameras around and broadcast Charles’s seminar live to the public. We now invite you to watch an archived version of the seminar, including secrets about how we livestream unpredictable birds in inaccessible locations, plus lots of video highlights including courtship, hatching, and even a midnight owl attack.

This talk took place on November 18, 2013, as part of the Cornell Lab’s long-running Monday Night Seminar series, a long-standing tradition established decades ago by Lab founder Dr. Arthur Allen. In 2013, to enable more people to enjoy these thought-provoking talks by international experts, we began livestreaming some of the seminars. If you enjoyed this seminar, check this list for our list of future speakers—we’ll note which upcoming talks will be livestreamed—or come visit us in person! If you missed any talks, please see our index of archived livestreamed seminars.

Here’s the archived video of Charles Eldermire’s seminar (introduction by Miyoko Chu, the Lab’s senior director of communications):