WE are really happy to announce that we have a brand new bald eagle cam on WildEarth. It is set up at Lake Ozarks in Missouri.

Springtime at Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks means the return of migrating birds. With 1,150 miles of shoreline surrounded by thousands of acres of wooded hillsides, the Lake of the Ozarks is one of the best places in Missouri to spot a spectacular variety of birds

About 2,800 bald eagles annually migrate to Missouri, including more than 100 that congregate at the Lake of the Ozarks to spend the winter soaring high above the Osage River and Bagnell Dam, diving for fish.  These majestic birds arrive in October and remain in the area until middle or late March.

This eagle cam was installed on the Lake of Ozarks by Jim Ray. It overlooks a bald eagle nest occupied by two eagles named Elsie and Einstein. Jim explains: “This setup is right in our back yard,we sometimes even have coffee with the eagles”!

The cam is an Axis 214 PTZ mounted inside of an upside down 15 gallon aquarium, with small heater and thermometer on a platform 40′ off the ground.

Elsie & Einstein came to this location in August 2009 and built their first nest 150 feet north of their current location. In 2009 they hatched 2 eaglets but only one survived into the early summer.

Last year the Important dates were February 10th when the first egg was laid and March 17th when the first chick hatched. These dates may be a bit earlier than the Canadian eagles due to the climate.

This year they moved their nest even closer, about 80 feet from Jim’s back deck. Unfortunately last year he had this cam on his roof and there were many branches between where the cam would have been and the eagles nest so he made the decision to not broadcast it live. However, this year the view of the nest is much better and so WildEarth and Jim will hopefully bring you some fantastic images throughout eagle breeding season. WE are very excited.

Best viewing time is sunrise central US time.
You can find more information at Jim’s website: http://webpages.charter.net/jray59/
Emily Wallington