The camera system
EagleCam2
The camera system was specially developed for the monitoring of Crowned Eagle activities at their nest
The components
The camera system consists of a Raspberry Pi computer, Raspberry Pi camera and a power adapter. These were all mounted inside a weatherproof box, camouflaged to make it less visible. The camera box was mounted in the tree above the nest, close enough for the camera to capture detail of the nest and all eagle activities at the nest.
The remainder of the EagleCam2 system, positioned on the ground some distance away from the tree, includes a solar power system (photovoltaic system) with solar panels, deep-cycle 12 VDC battery, solar power regulator, and a power inverter. An LTE cellular modem also forms part of the EagleCam2 system. Power to the Raspberry Pi, with its camera, and the LTE modem is supplied as 220 VAC by the solar power system.
Capturing images
The Raspberry Pi computer software has been coded to capture images whenever movement at the nest is detected. All images are automatically uploaded to an Internet cloud service. From there the images are downloaded on a regular basis. Adjustments to the Raspberry Pi’s program code, such as movement sensitivity and image settings, can be remotely done via the LTE modem whenever needed.
EagleCam2 was installed and activated on 13 June 2020.