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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 2016)
14 Wednesday, March 30, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon EAGLE CAM: Nest can be views in real time online Continued from page 1 her babies breakfast. Technical aspects of the project included building a website, and it took Tony Kay a lot of head-scratching to figure out — through trial and error — that the project needed a static IP address for the webcam to stream optimally. That required sign- ing up for a streaming ser- vice, and getting a separate Yellowknife account and dish that’s dedicated to the Eagle Cam. (That’s because, in this rural setting, Internet access is bandwidth-limited, and streaming the eagle cam requires between 100 and 300 GB/month, which is a consid- erable expense.) Jim Hammond of the Sisters Astronomy Club is a whiz at adapting telescopes to look at things other than stars. He has the original camera that was first captur- ing the eagle images 14 years ago hooked to a Meade 1000 mm focal length telescope with a four-inch aperture and with an adapter converting it to about 600mm. The setup is about a quarter-mile from the nest, looking across Whychus Creek Canyon, where thermal effects can be quite dramatic, as the bottom of the canyon is about 150 feet below the line of sight. Now the telescope and camera is streaming data to Yellowknife and out to you — with the invaluable assistance of Leslie Lawrence and Tony Kay, who babysit the whole electronic assembly. This project began 14 years ago on land Janet Zuelke and Forrest Babcock owned, now owned by Leslie Lawrence. It was the tragic death of a newly hatched golden eagle that blew out of its nest that was the beginning of the only known golden eagle family video streaming around the world. As Zuelke related the tragic story to her partner, Forrest Babcock — an optical engineer — they hatched the idea of setting up a telescope with a TV camera attached to the eyepiece to send an image to their home TV so they could watch the nest full-time. Forrest put up a tent on the hillside below their home and used it as a shelter for his ingenious telescope and cam- era setup. In the meantime, Wolftree, a local conserva- tion education group based in Sisters since 1994, got into the project and sent the video nationwide. Janet and Forrest sold out, moved to another part of the Northwest and went on with life. But not before Forrest, with back-breaking dedica- tion, built a beautiful gazebo on the hillside across the can- yon from the eagle nest, and topped that off by hauling wheel-barrow after wheel- barrow loads of concrete, making a pier that comes up through floor of the structure, creating a solid base for the telescope/camera mounting. When Wolftree sold out, that could have been an end to the eagle cam, except for Leslie Lawrence. She took one look at the gazebo, knew the story of Forrest and Janet’s Wolftree eagle cam and asked Forrest to leave everything in place as she wanted to get it up and run- ning again. Last year, Jim Hammond of the Sisters Astronomy Club had a big telescope donated to the club that he thought would accept the TV camera and went to work. After countless hours of jury- rigging and finding things that didn’t work, he finally hit the jackpot and captured an image that he could send to Lawrence’s living room TV. Leslie, with technical help from her side-kick, Tony Kay, jumped in and got the images streaming again. With supreme effort and money out of her own pocket, Leslie and her helpers contacted ECAS, who have taken over the long-term financial sus- tainability of the eagle cam. The golden eagle cam Janet and Forrest started so many years ago is still streaming for the enjoyment and education of people world-wide who may have wondered what goes on in the life of a golden eagle — all thanks to residents of Sisters Country and the dedication of ECAS, who enjoy work- ing together for the common good of everyone. Go to: www.GoldenEagleCam.com and enjoy... And if you like what you see, go to the ECAS website, www.ecaudubon.org to help defray the costs of operating the eagle cam. TRACK: Strong athlete turnout bodes well for team this season Continued from page 8 qualified for state in the long jump, where she placed 11th. Ricker is another one to watch as the lead sprinter for the team and was named Sky- Em track athlete of the meet last year as a freshman. She qualified in the 100 and 200 last year, as well as in the pole vault. She and fellow sopho- more Mandi Calavan give Sis- ters a powerful 1-2 punch in the sprints. Seniors Macadia Calavan and Dallas Knoop, along with some untested new members of the team, ought to give the Outlaws a lot of depth in all the sprint races as well as the long jump, where Knoop ranks second on the team to Miller and is the team’s lead- ing triple jumper. Junior Sabrina Reifsch- neider showed dramatic improvement during last sea- son and qualified with Miller in the 300 hurdles. The pair are the top two returning hur- dlers in the league. Julie Meeter shows she is ready to challenge the school record books and make a return appearance at the state meet in the javelin as she popped a career best in the first meet of the 2016 season at 115 feet. Like Meeter, senior Tessa O’Hern placed ninth at state last year, but has already added to her career best in her specialty, the pole vault, by four inches to hit the 10-foot mark. She and her coach Jim Anderson are both excited about the possibilities this year. Senior Megan Calarco scored a lot of points for the Outlaws last year, especially in the 3,000 meters, and looks ready for the 2016 season after her victory in the first meet at Bend High last week. A crop of newcomers should help the Outlaws be even deeper than last year in SISTERS HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Thrift Store WAY TOO MUCH FABRIC! Buy 1, get 2nd (at equal or lesser value) FREE! 541-549-1740 the middle and long distances, despite losing 3,000-meter school record-holder Aria Blumm to graduation. Sophie Borders, the Sky-Em District cross-country champion, is on the team this season and should be a great addition in the 1,500- and 3000-meter races. She is joined by junior Zidane Galant-LaPorte and a quartet of promising fresh- man: Amy Hills, Tate Ricker, Molly Winter and Alexa Stewart. “Quite a few kids have not yet competed, so I am anxious to see how the girls do when we are at full strength after spring break,” said Larson. “Success in track comes from having more than just one or two stars. It’s all about depth, which we appear to have again this year. This might be the most complete team I have ever coached.” The boys can only go upwards in the league after a fifth-place finish in the Sky- Em among six teams, mostly due to low turnout. This year’s squad is 25 strong and looks different already, with a good spread of experience and tal- ent across most of the 17 events. Returning from a stel- lar junior season in which he placed seventh at the state meet in the 1,500- and 3,000- meter races is Jadon Bach- told, making him one of the top returnees at the 4A level. Sophomore Jordan Pollard is also back and looking stron- ger than ever, according to Larson. A huge plus for the Outlaws comes from the arrival on the team of TJ Hooks, who placed second last fall in the state cross-country meet, the high- est finish ever for an Outlaw. In addition, Izaak Kanzig is back after two years in South Korea. Kanzig qualified for the state track meet as a fresh- man in the 800 and should bring speed to the 1,600-meter relay team that should contend for a berth at state again after a seventh-place finish there last year. That team was com- prised of Bachtold, Sam Gar- brecht, Keegan Greaney, and exchange student Andreas Pederson. Senior Dyut Fetrow, a ver- satile runner, also figures to contribute. Seniors Seth Larson (jav- elin) and Rory Petterson (discus and shot put) lead the throwing unit as both are stronger than a year ago and have started this season right where they left off last year. “I am excited that we got a crew of freshman out, but we also added some upper- classmen who did not com- pete last year, including Tyler Cross, Jacob Allen and Sam Lewis,” said Larson. “It’s a great group of hard-working kids, and I have a feeling they will meet or exceed whatever expectations we coaches have for them.” Larson is assisted by what he considers among the most experienced coaches around, including Jim Anderson (pole vault and horizontal jumps), Carlos Garcia (hurdles, relays, sprints), Wes Cook (distance events and high jump) and Dr. Eden Miller (throws). “They are the best staff I’ve ever been a part of, including at the college level. These people check their egos at the door and put the kids’ success first.” The staff shares the philos- ophy of expecting the kids to work hard, building each other up, and having fun, according to Larson. Sisters cannot host any meets this season since the track is in need of repair, but will stay close to home twice this season with meets at Summit April 23 and Madras April 30. The Outlaws open the league season with a three- way meet April 7 at Elmira, which will also include the Sweet Home Huskies. THE GALLERY R E S TA U R A N T A N D B A R ReStore 6& OFF % ALL LAMPS & LIGHTING — Each item must cost at least $1 — Brighte u n p! things 541-549-1621 141 W. Main Ave., Sisters 254 W. Adams Ave., Sisters Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, 12-4 p.m. Donations accepted Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed Sundays Donations accepted Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Bretkftst & lunch 6:30 t.m.-2:30 p.m. Full-service dining in the btr nightly until 10 p.m. (21 & over) — Orders to go always welcome — Connect with us on Ftcebook for dtily soups tnd other grett specitls! 171 W. Ctsctde Ave., Sisters • 541-549-2631
