The Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project is back and better than ever! In the winter and spring of 2012, golfers at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay in Harrison, Tenn., had the opportunity to observe a pair of bald eagles nesting behind a putting green. With the help of a USGA grant, this audience expanded from a few hundred golfers on site to tens of thousands worldwide when Paul Carter, CGCS, and his staff at Bear Trace installed an “Eagle Cam” and set up a live video feed (harrisonbayeaglecam.org).
The stars of this website are the two bald eagles, affectionately named Elliott and Eloise by Paul Carter’s then 8-year-old daughter. It was amazing to be able to view the nest 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Although two eggs were laid last winter, unfortunately neither of them survived.
Undeterred, Paul and his staff decided to continue with the Eagle Cam Project again in 2012-2013 with impressive upgrades to both the video and audio feeds. The USGA is proud to provide support for this project again this year. Paul states that, “The goal of this project is to continue to show interested individuals that golf courses are good for the environment, and if maintained and managed properly can be an environmental asset.” The staff plans to have the live video feed up and running soon so be sure to bookmark harrisonbayeaglecam.org.
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| The view of Eloise and Elliot’s home will be even better this year. A screen shot from the new live video feed shows amazing clarity of the bald eagle’s nest at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay Golf Course. |
For more information on the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project, please visit the following links:
Chattanooga Times Free Press 1
Chattanooga Times Free Press 2
Authors: Chris Hartwiger (chartwiger@usga.org) and Patrick O’Brien (patobrien@usga.org)