It is that time of year again and we are anxiously awaiting the return of our wood duck. There has been no activity inside the house to this date. Last year, we guess she arrived around April 19-20th. We hope to see her come crashing into the house any morning now.
There are some new changes this year that we are very excited about. First and foremost, is the fact that we have installed all new equipment. Due to a very generous donation from the Albertville Lions, we were able to purchase a new camera and wireless system. While we have some lighting issues to work through, the camera and the system give us many more options and capabilities.
Secondly, we have a second party hosting the live feed. PixController Inc. and their CEO, Bill Powers, have generously provided us with the ability to send our live feed to them for free. PixController is a company out of Pennsylvania and they were the ones behind the technology for the Lily the Bear project this winter in Ely, Minnesota. They had a camera looking into the den and were able to see the birth and parenting of a black bear and her cub.
PixController will then take our live wood duck feed and post it on a website called Wildearth t.v. We will embed this feed on our district website just like last year. Your view should be greatly improved and reliable.
A big thanks goes to Roger Bovee and Ryan Panning from the district tech department. They made the contact with PixController and took care of all the equipment and correspondence. Roger designed a new top for our wood duck house and successfully wired the system to our solar power. They continue to both give a lot of donated time to this project.
The live feed will not start until the hen arrives. We will keep you posted but check in daily as we hope she comes any day. Of course, there is the chance that she or any of her offspring will not return but we are choosing to think positively and expect her arrival any minute.
Finally, we hope to use one of old cameras in an inner courtyard at my elementary school. If you look through the videos you will see a Make Way For Ducklings video. The hen mallard is back to the same courtyard and sitting on a new batch of eggs. We hope to use the new cameras to broadcast the action throughout our schools and get some good video clips for our website.
That is all for today and lets hope she makes it back for another exciting Spring!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Friday, June 5, 2009
Duck Watchers,
All the ducklings are now gone and things have quieted down. Thanks for being patience while we worked hard to get the videos posted. We have some great footage and make sure to turn the volume up as the cameras did record excellent audio. The ducklings sure do make a racket. It's no wonder that the Mother wants out of the house as soon as possible.
We have yet to spot the ducklings on any of the ponds. We encountered the same thing last year and must conclude that she chooses to take them to most secluded pond. This pond is not accessible for viewing unless you have waders on and go through the bulrushes. If they are spotted we will post it immediately.
Luke Heil, 7th grader, provided the footage outside of the wood duck house. He was totally camouflaged and hiding about thirty yards away armed with a tripod and video camera. He gave up a whole class field trip to the Twins game to capture this unique experience. Now that's dedication to waterfowl!
Have a great summer and we hope this project has sparked an interest in all to become more involved with nature and conservation.
All the ducklings are now gone and things have quieted down. Thanks for being patience while we worked hard to get the videos posted. We have some great footage and make sure to turn the volume up as the cameras did record excellent audio. The ducklings sure do make a racket. It's no wonder that the Mother wants out of the house as soon as possible.
We have yet to spot the ducklings on any of the ponds. We encountered the same thing last year and must conclude that she chooses to take them to most secluded pond. This pond is not accessible for viewing unless you have waders on and go through the bulrushes. If they are spotted we will post it immediately.
Luke Heil, 7th grader, provided the footage outside of the wood duck house. He was totally camouflaged and hiding about thirty yards away armed with a tripod and video camera. He gave up a whole class field trip to the Twins game to capture this unique experience. Now that's dedication to waterfowl!
Have a great summer and we hope this project has sparked an interest in all to become more involved with nature and conservation.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Where did all those eggs come from?
Wood duck watchers,
We hope to have a live feed soon. Please be patient as we make sure the system can handle the load of viewers that will want to view the hen live. We have posted two videos for everyone to see .
The first video shows the hen as she arrives to an apparently empty nest. It is a safe to say that she has been in this house sometime this Spring because there is some down on the wood chips. I first noticed downat the beginning of April. During the previous week both Rick Miller, renewable energy consultant, and I had both been in the house and not seen an egg. Rick had been working most of Thursday and never noticed a duck or any activity. He was actually working on the wiring so the camera could be powered up. After Rick left the recording started and there is no record of the duck appearing until she showed up at 5:52 right in front of my eyes. Unless she had eggs buried in the wood chips she laid some eggs Friday morning. The video clearly shows eggs appearing and the hen does make a wiggling movement numerous times that leads one to believe she might be laying an egg.
My students think she laid between 4-6 eggs. We do know that she left at 8:47 and did not return until Saturday morning at 5:54. We are recording every second and I can look back to see what happened at any time. She only stayed on Saturday until 7:51. I need to look back and see if anymore eggs were laid. I had to add a cedar box over the wiring compartment and personally counted 8 eggs in the house. So the great question is whether they were all laid from Friday to Saturday morning. This would go against conventional duck research. Usually, ducks only lay one egg a day. Please take a look at the video and share your opinion.
We hope to have a live feed soon. Please be patient as we make sure the system can handle the load of viewers that will want to view the hen live. We have posted two videos for everyone to see .
The first video shows the hen as she arrives to an apparently empty nest. It is a safe to say that she has been in this house sometime this Spring because there is some down on the wood chips. I first noticed downat the beginning of April. During the previous week both Rick Miller, renewable energy consultant, and I had both been in the house and not seen an egg. Rick had been working most of Thursday and never noticed a duck or any activity. He was actually working on the wiring so the camera could be powered up. After Rick left the recording started and there is no record of the duck appearing until she showed up at 5:52 right in front of my eyes. Unless she had eggs buried in the wood chips she laid some eggs Friday morning. The video clearly shows eggs appearing and the hen does make a wiggling movement numerous times that leads one to believe she might be laying an egg.
My students think she laid between 4-6 eggs. We do know that she left at 8:47 and did not return until Saturday morning at 5:54. We are recording every second and I can look back to see what happened at any time. She only stayed on Saturday until 7:51. I need to look back and see if anymore eggs were laid. I had to add a cedar box over the wiring compartment and personally counted 8 eggs in the house. So the great question is whether they were all laid from Friday to Saturday morning. This would go against conventional duck research. Usually, ducks only lay one egg a day. Please take a look at the video and share your opinion.
Introducing the STMA Duck Cam Blog!!
Aaron Heil, 1st grade teacher at Big Woods Elementary, has a passion for the outdoors and all of the critters that call it home. A few years ago, Aaron wanted to add trail cameras to find out what kind of animals live in the "Big Woods," a small forest near his school. He thought the photos would go nicely with the excitement the students exhibit when he feeds Snappy, the resident snapping turtle in his classroom.
Worried that the cameras in the woods would be vandalized or stolen, Aaron asked the district technology department about other ideas in accomplishing his dream. Technician, Ryan Panning stepped up to the challenge and designed a wireless IP camera to work with the existing network at Fieldstone Elementary and a nearby wetland. Mr. Heil's 1st graders built a woodduck house and their teacher mounted it on a post within range of the wireless capabilities of the technology. It wasn't long before a momma duck saw the comfortable shelter and moved in to house her brood in the spring of 2008.
Mr Heil's excitement spread from his class to parents, other teachers, and eventually the DNR. So many people logged in to watch the momma duck care for her eggs that the network was soon overloaded, but videos were archived of the major events and are available on the district website.
The success of the program has motivated Mr Heil to look for more funding to upgrade the equipment to feature more houses and a more reliable power system. Previously, Aaron would have to replace and recharge deep-cycle batteries every other day to keep the camera working. Presently, the system features two cameras powered by a very large battery which is charged by solar energy. Stay tuned for more features and additions to the Mr. Heil's waterfowl watch. His ideas and energy may lead to an incredible learning experience for students from STMA and beyond.
Please subscribe to this blog for more updates on the program. And... feel free to leave a comment, we would love to hear from you.
Worried that the cameras in the woods would be vandalized or stolen, Aaron asked the district technology department about other ideas in accomplishing his dream. Technician, Ryan Panning stepped up to the challenge and designed a wireless IP camera to work with the existing network at Fieldstone Elementary and a nearby wetland. Mr. Heil's 1st graders built a woodduck house and their teacher mounted it on a post within range of the wireless capabilities of the technology. It wasn't long before a momma duck saw the comfortable shelter and moved in to house her brood in the spring of 2008.
Mr Heil's excitement spread from his class to parents, other teachers, and eventually the DNR. So many people logged in to watch the momma duck care for her eggs that the network was soon overloaded, but videos were archived of the major events and are available on the district website.
The success of the program has motivated Mr Heil to look for more funding to upgrade the equipment to feature more houses and a more reliable power system. Previously, Aaron would have to replace and recharge deep-cycle batteries every other day to keep the camera working. Presently, the system features two cameras powered by a very large battery which is charged by solar energy. Stay tuned for more features and additions to the Mr. Heil's waterfowl watch. His ideas and energy may lead to an incredible learning experience for students from STMA and beyond.
Please subscribe to this blog for more updates on the program. And... feel free to leave a comment, we would love to hear from you.
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