Spying on our animal friends

May 15, 2008 9:08 AM

We're all used to animal cams at the zoo. You can watch animals in the wild or in captivity. But how about a live animal cam at...the library!
posted by nax (12 comments total)

Welcome to the new millennium, falcon.
posted by Mister_A at 9:10 AM on May 15, 2008 [3 favorites]

An animal in in the library?! Now I've seen everything!
posted by DU at 9:15 AM on May 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

Do they feed them bookworms?
posted by Dizzy at 9:40 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

How about one at the insurance company?
posted by Partial Law at 9:50 AM on May 15, 2008

How about one at city hall?
posted by MissNefertiti at 11:44 AM on May 15, 2008

This so made me happy. Thank you!
posted by lumpenprole at 2:00 PM on May 15, 2008

Damn, the fifth year in a row they've nested...must be because they were very pleased when they found that poem Yeats put one of them in!
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 3:44 PM on May 15, 2008

Aha! Nest cam. My original idea was to find a bunch of urban wildlife cams (inspired by my local one). Google fu failed me, but you guys came through as always.
posted by nax at 3:14 AM on May 16, 2008

The Evanston library pwns.
posted by LSK at 3:25 AM on May 16, 2008

I suggested the cam the first year the falcons nested (different male and female then though) -- but the library director at the time rejected the idea at first. He was a bird nut and he had a hard time looking at the birds as often as he wanted though, so he relented and gave the go ahead to do it the following year after just so long as I didn't spend more than about a hundred and fifty bucks on the project, so he could get a falcon fix as often he wanted.

There was talk of upgrading the camera this year, but it didn't come to anything though, so we're still surviving with the old 640x480 cam. Maybe next year, now it seems to have become a tradition.

If you're in Evanston in early June (the exact date date is usually announced a week or so in advance) you can come to the banding and see the chicks up close and personal.

It's nice that something I did made it to the blue!
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 11:16 AM on May 16, 2008

Quinbus-- glad to help!
posted by nax at 8:49 PM on May 17, 2008

The banding/naming date has been announced: Friday 5/30 @ 11:am -- if I recall the process takes about 45 minutes.

There's usually enough room for a fair number of people to watch (the banding is done on the tables in the reference room), so if you are in Evanston that day stop by. If you are outside the library you'll know something's up because the parents complain loudly.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:15 AM on May 23, 2008