Eagle's nest cameras have been upgraded

Decorah's popular bald eagle webcam has gotten a technological upgrade.

Raptor Resource's Bob Anderson says new cameras and microphones have been installed at the nest.   The computer that hosts the webcam is also getting upgraded.  The result will be larger images and clearer sound available to more people.  During the past season, the bald eagle webcam was visited by over 325,000 people.

Anderson and three others installed the new equipment by climbing into the eagle nest in the tree overlooking the Decorah Fish Hatchery. 

Anderson says he has incurred several thousand dollars in debt to pay for the camera upgrade.  Raptor Resource has applied for a grant from the Upper Iowa Audubon to fund the costs of the cameras and has applied to the DNR for a REAP grant to cover the monthly costs to use an outside video host company.  No grants have been awarded yet, however.
 
The Decorah bald eagle camera first went operational in 2007.