Nov. 11, 2009

Norman -The George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center, affiliated with the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences and the Oklahoma Biological Survey, recently was awarded the 2009 Keep Oklahoma Beautiful Team Building Award for their Eagle Web Cam Project.

The project has teamed the Sutton Avian Center with OG&E Energy Corp., Atlas Computers and OneNet Telecommunications Network.  Other sponsors for the Web camera include NatureWorks, the Inasmuch Foundation, the John Steele Zink Foundation, the Newfield Foundation, the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Steve Sherrod, Sutton Center executive director, and Alan Jenkins, assistant director, report that they and other Sutton staff had worked with OG&E for years on conservation projects.  The first eagle nest camera was placed on the Arkansas River in Sand Springs in 2004, partnering with Atlas Computers and OneNet.

The current eagle nest Web camera originally was focused on a large tree on Sooner Lake, but because of the fear of the rotting tree collapsing, OG&E built a new nest tower, supervised by OG& E’s Erv Warren, following suggestions by Jenkins regarding such towers in other states.

The Team Builders Award is given by the Keep Oklahoma Beautiful Board.  The award honors those organizations who have worked together to achieve a goal of creating a more sustainable and beautiful Oklahoma in a unique way.  KOB presented the award to the avian center for their project allowing school children the opportunity to watch an egg hatch and a new life unfold, which gave them a chance to see the importance of caring for Oklahoma’s natural resources.  The eagle nest cam received close to 4 million hits from 60 countries during this past nesting season.

The Sutton Avian Research Center was founded in 1983 and is dedicated to finding cooperative conservation solution for birds and the natural world through science and education.  The Eagle Cam Project is located on the OG&E property at Sooner Lake, north of Stillwater, Okla.  It has been online for two years, and has tracked a pair of bald eagles and their offspring from laying of eggs to the young flying off on their own.  One clutch of one to four eggs is laid per year.  Incubation begins sometime in December or January and lasts for about a month. The resulting chicks remain in the nest for 11 to 12 weeks before first flight. Once fledged, the chicks continue to be fed by their parents for an additional four to six weeks as the fledglings develop flying and hunting skills. Visit their Web site at www.suttoncenter.org.