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Self-conscious about your parenting skills? Try being on a camera 24 hours a day, with thousands of viewers watching your every move and logging habits as mundane as feeding your child.
A pair of bald eagles on Santa Cruz Island who hatched the first natural-born baby chick a year ago have endured this scrutiny -- unbeknownst to them, of course -- on the World Wide Web. *** WATCH THE VIDEO ***
 From left, David Tremble, a naturalist from the Institute of Wildlife Studies and Kate Faulker with the National Parks Service on a recent trip to Santa Cruz island. Photo by Melissa Evans/SBN
“People have really become attached to this baby chick,” said Kate Faulding, chief of the Natural Resources Division for the National Parks Service. “It’s opened up this little window into the world of what we do here.”
A discussion board on the Channel Islands site about the eagle observations has received more than 55,000 hits just this spring.
A group of about 400 people from across North America even formed a group called the “Cruzers” dedicated solely to monitoring the threatened birds on Santa Cruz Island. They had never met before, but have evolved into a tight-knit virtual network.
Members ask each other how their knee surgery went; about vacations and their children. They expressed widespread concern Friday after news broke about the fire on Catalina Island, part of the Channel Islands network that stretches from southern Los Angeles County to Santa Barbara County.
Mostly their observations center around the baby chick -- its movements, patterns and feeding habits morning, noon and night.
“Good morning from the east coast!” a poster named “harpo” said Thursday. “Little overcast but no complaining on my part. Great captures (as always) yesterday - enjoy seeing the difference in how they look and act!” The Channel Islands stretch from southern Los Angeles to Santa Barbara County. Map by
There’s Debi, a self-proclaimed “eagleholic” from Makakilo, Hawaii; a librarian from Oxnard; Glady from the south shore of Nova Scotia.
“I feel lucky to be a part of this amazing project and be given the opportunity to follow very closely the development of such wonderful creatures,” a 24-year-old from Ecuador wrote on the Web site.
The detailed observations from the Cruzers, as well as a fifth-grade class of students from Oxnard, have been invaluable to researchers and scientists.
“We don’t have the resources to monitor the birds around the clock, so in that respect, they’ve been a big help,” said Yvonne Menard, chief of interpretation and public information for the Channel Islands National Park.
The hatching was a huge coup for the Parks Service, which has been trying to restore the eagle population on the Channel Islands since their demise in the 1940s and 1950s. The birds were unable to reproduce due to the effects of DDT, a pesticide that causes the birds to lay thin-shelled eggs that dry out or crack during incubation.
The chemical was banned in the 1970s, and the birds have bounced back steadily across the county. It has been a much more difficult task in Southern California because DDT was actually manufactured in a plant in L.A., Faulkner said.
In 2002, the National Parks Service began an aggressive restoration campaign using money from a court settlement from the companies responsible for production of the deadly chemical. Over the last four years, 60 birds have been planted at the island in hopes they would nest and reproduce. It finally happened last year, when two birds from Catalina Island -- recognized by their tags -- hatched a chick.
 Students at Lemondwood School in Oxnard helped researchers keep tabs on the bald eagle. Courtesy photo.
A partnership was later formed with the Ventura County Office of Education, allowing them to take the idea even further. David Luff, technology director for the school system, worked with the Parks Service to find a signal that could be beamed from the island to a tower north of Santa Barbara and onto the Internet for viewers everywhere to see.
“We weren’t sure if we could do it,” Luff said. “It took some figuring, but we made it happen.”
The broadcast was mutually beneficial. Not only could researchers share the eagles with the public, but children in schools could get a first-hand look at nature in action.
Fifth-graders at Lemonwood School in Oxnard spent months logging the movements of the birds, anxiously awaiting the birth of the baby chick this spring -- the second natural birth of a bald eagle on Santa Cruz Island.
Video of the hatching shows the little chick fighting to poke its head out of the shell. The mother eagle stood by, instinctively knowing to not to interfere, spending hours at the side of the egg stomping down twigs in the 8-foot wide nest and keeping a close watch for predators.
When it was all over, the kids in the class toasted with sugar-free Fresca.
“They were so excited,” said Menard, who had gone to the class to give a lesson on the eagles.
The Cruzers, meanwhile, nicknamed the chick “dust muffin” because it looked almost translucent when it was born. They later settled on “Princess Cruz” after the island.
The next major event to be watched closely will be the tagging of the bird in mid-June. It will likely fly away from the nest in July.
Those involved agree the project has been well worth the work and the $60,000 it cost to install the camera. Luff, along with volunteers and Parks Service staff members, had to lug all of the equipment up a steep and unstable hill in order to realize the project. One of the volunteers even suffered a broken ankle while carrying a 60-pound battery -- one of several -- needed for the camera.
The northern side of the island is owned by the Nature Conservancy, a private organization that prohibits public access. The area surrounding the eagle’s nest is untouched, surrounded by brilliant wild flowers and only a few trails overgrown with grass. Solar panels are used as a power source for the Web camera about 100 feet from the eagle's nest. Photo by Melissa Evans/SBN
In this environment, it’s odd to come upon a small tent that houses a monitor and other equipment powered by solar panels and a satellite dish.
“It’s been such a great project,” said Luff, who travels to the island once or twice a year to maintain the camera. “It’s been so much fun for us to be a part of this.”
The bald eagle restoration is only one part of the National Park Service effort to restore the original habitat to the island, including animals and plants. The brown pelican has made a come back, along with the Island Fox and various other sea birds.
The eagles, however, have garnered the most attention, partly because of the majestic and patriotic allure, but mostly because of the Web camera.
“Until you can make this accessible to people, it’s hard to understand what we’re doing out here,” Faulkner said. “People just love this chick.”
To view the eagles, go to the Channel Islands National Park Web page at www.nps.gov/chis.
Contact Melissa Evans at
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