It's "Decorah's very own reality show"

Raptor Resource's Bob Anderson

Decorah eaglecam operator Bob Anderson says he gets 500 to 1,000 e-mails every day with questions and comments about Decorah's bald eagles.

As Decorah Library's Kristin Torresdal put it, the eaglecam has become "Decorah's very own reality show."  When the eaglets were hatching, as many as 160,000 people were watching at one time.

Anderson says he is most proud of the fact that thousands and thousands of teachers all across the world are using the eaglecam as a teaching tool.  "It's been a great, great, wonderful wildlife learning tool," he told an audience of 85 people at the Decorah Public Library on Tuesday night.

Of course, classrooms are not the only places the eaglecam is viewed.  Anderson says he's been amazed by the number of businesses that connect to the eaglecam and leave it on all day.  "I think we're responsible for the GNP of America going down," he jokes.

But it doesn't take long for people to get hooked on watching the bald eagles.  Anderson says people come to have a feeling of ownership--and talk about "our eagles."  Sometimes that results in sme strange obsessions, like worrying the one of the eaglets isn't getting fed enough or that one of the eagle parents has left for good, but Anderson says he takes that as a sign of how involved people have gotten.

The enormous success of the eaglecam has taken Anderson somewhat by surprise, but he says he appreciates it: "I feel like the luckiest man on earth."