Eagles4kids

Eagles4kids

Eagles4kids is a student-teacher run interactive online resource about a bald eagle’s nest which includes live video streams on the nest in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.The website is a classroom project for a third and fourth grade combined classroom coming from Blair-Taylor Elementary School. The eagle cam currently focuses on two eagles, whose names are, Blair and Taylor. The Eagles4kids live stream has been viewed by over 130 countries since it was started in 2010 and is viewed tens of thousands of times every month, with over 2 million views as of 2015. Eagles4kids also has a partnership with the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota.

Contents

• Eagles4kids
• History
• Season 1 The school year of 2010 2011
• Season 2 The school year of 2011 2012
• Season 3 The school year of 2012 2013
• Season 4 The school year of 2013 2014
• Season 5 The school year of 2014 2015
• References

History

In the fall of 2010, the third-fourth grade classroom teacher, Michael Lawrence and his students started to become interested in eagles after watching an eagle cam from California. Lawrence decided to write a grant to get a camera and contacted a local land owner to get permission to set up the camera by an eagle’s nest on their land. This camera was put up into a tree above the nest and is able to be zoomed in closer to view the nest better as well. The live stream was eventually set up and the eagle’s nest was put in the public eye. Before the school year began in 2012, Lawrence moved out of the district, and Darrin Briggs and his class who were also participating, took over the project. Briggs made some advanced changes to the project by adding another camera which was called, Pan Tilt, Zoom and was able to add audio to both cameras to make the live stream more enhancing to the viewers. Since the camera is in a rural area, it is often hard for the camera to stay streaming live because of the connection and is often paused. The project has now been in full swing; going on 6 seasons (6 school years). There have been many comments made about the live stream being compared to a soap opera because there has been so much drama with the eagles. Even some of the fans consider themselves “Eagleholics”.

Season 1 (The school year of 2010-2011)

Once the camera was set up at the nest, the students came up with the names Lucy and Larry. Towards the start of the egg laying period, Lucy ended up disappearing for a long time and left Larry alone at the nest and nobody understood why. Many days later Larry was able to get an eagle to come to the nest, but it didn’t seem to be Lucy because of the way they were both acting. There was something strange going on but it didn’t appear like the “old” Lucy was going to be coming back. It was decided that this eagle was going to be the “new” Lucy. Since this had occurred, no eggs were laid during that year.

Season 2 (The school year of 2011-2012)

Lucy ended up laying two eggs at the beginning of March 2012. Once an eagle has laid its egg(s) the parents both incubate the eggs for about 35 days until they hatch. The first of the two eggs hatched on April 7, 2012 and the students named the eagle Luke, the second egg hatched on April 10 and it was named Lilly. During this time, it was clear that the female eagle was a not the original Lucy, because Larry was teaching her how to feed the chicks and everything made it seem like Lucy was a first time mother. Luke and Lilly ended up fledging in the summer of 2012.

Season 3 (The school year of 2012-2013)

Around November 2012, Lucy encountered a terrible injury to both of her feet, but due to the worse injury on the right foot it was uncertain whether she would be able to survive without the use of her foot. Lucy ended up losing her toes on her right foot. After seeing her injury, a decision had to be made about how to help Lucy and take a look at her injury. There were efforts to trap Lucy but she ignored all of the traps set and it was finally decided the best option for Lucy was to leave her alone to live until the end comes. Larry took control and started to help Lucy and a special bond showed through. She ended up gaining more strength in her foot and was doing well without her full mobility. Then the unthinkable happened. On March 9, 2013, Lucy laid an egg. But, more than a month later the egg popped and was destroyed. The cameras continued to watch Larry and Lucy work together.

Season 4 (The school year of 2013-2014)

The eagle drama continued. At the start of the season it was like any other season with the eagles flying back to the nest and leaving again. Then, in about March, Lucy had not been seen for a little while and there had been a new female at the nest with Larry. The explanation is believed to be that Larry thought that Lucy wouldn’t be able to reproduce and Lucy most likely knew she wouldn’t be able to fight for her spot in the nest It was discovered that Larry had at least two if not three females in the nest after Lucy left. Many wonder what ever happened to Lucy and wonder if she will ever be seen again, but they believe she can take care of herself because she is a smart eagle. There were no eggs laid during this season.

Season 5 (The school year of 2014-2015)

There was drama again but big changes occurred. By December 2014, Larry had not been spotted, and by February there were two new eagles in the nest that seemed to be taking it over and were ready to raise a family. The female eagle was named Blair and the male was named Taylor Then in the middle of February there was an attack on the nest and Taylor appeared to be the one attacking. After the attack Taylor was not seen for a few weeks. Then on February 18, 2015, Blair laid her first egg, then a few days later she laid her second. The eagle that Taylor potentially attacked came to the nest but saw no interest in helping incubate. On March 3, Taylor came back to the nest with some substantial injuries. The eggs never hatched and were destroyed by a raccoon.

Season 6 is currently going for the 2015-2016 school year.