Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
Ever wish you could see raptors lay their eggs and watch their young hatch and grow? Enter the , put in place by the electricity and natural gas energy company, 鈥攖he same company leading the effort to put the city of Boulder, CO onto the .
The cameras, which monitor bald eagles, peregrine falcons, kestrels, osprey and great horned owls in three of the eight states Xcel serves, have been in place for more than a decade. But the program actually started with nest boxes 20 years ago.
As the , an employee of Xcel鈥檚 King Plant in Minnesota noticed a peregrine falcon making itself at home in one of the plant鈥檚 stacks. So the company partnered with the to get this bird a home. Up went the first of many nest boxes, in Minnesota to start, then in Colorado and Iowa.
The first of eight cameras was installed in 1997. The aim: 鈥淭o increase awareness for conservation efforts and provide the public with opportunities to watch the birds and their growing families each spring,鈥 according to Xcel鈥檚 site.
Each species gets its own Bird Cam page, with breaking news鈥斺淲e have 10 baby falcons!鈥 shouts the excitedly, on May 27鈥攈our-by-hour daily pix and a live video feed of the boxes.
It鈥檚 a unique look at young bird families that feels not the least bit voyeuristic but natural. The more you watch, the more you care about what happens to these birds. And that鈥檚 the point. Now鈥檚 the busy season for most of the nests, so get watching!