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'Eagle Cam' is here to make your 4th of July party complete

Celebrate freedom just as the Founding Fathers did: By live-streaming a bald eagle on YouTube.

Claire Reilly Former Principal Video Producer
Claire Reilly was a video host, journalist and producer covering all things space, futurism, science and culture. Whether she's covering breaking news, explaining complex science topics or exploring the weirder sides of tech culture, Claire gets to the heart of why technology matters to everyone. She's been a regular commentator on broadcast news, and in her spare time, she's a cabaret enthusiast, Simpsons aficionado and closet country music lover. She originally hails from Sydney but now calls San Francisco home.
Expertise Space, Futurism, Science and Sci-Tech, Robotics, Tech Culture Credentials
  • Webby Award Winner (Best Video Host, 2021), Webby Nominee (Podcasts, 2021), Gold Telly (Documentary Series, 2021), Silver Telly (Video Writing, 2021), W3 Award (Best Host, 2020), Australian IT Journalism Awards (Best Journalist, Best News Journalist 2017)
Claire Reilly
2 min read
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Nothing says freedom like a bald eagle.

James Devaney/Getty Images

There's nothing the U-S-of-A loves more than celebrating freedom with a freshly grilled burger, a cold beer and the 4th of July fireworks.

Unless it's a livestream of a bald eagle.

The City of Milipitas, on the eastern edge of the Silicon Valley, is celebrating the arrival of two bald eagles (and their chicks) that have set up near a local elementary school with the launch of Eagle Cam.

The video camera is set up a local utility pole and trained on the redwood tree where the eagles are perched in their nest, and you can watch the whole thing on YouTube.

It's a bald eagle. Above an elementary school. In a redwood tree. At this stage we wouldn't be surprised if the chicks were wearing little stars-and-stripes sashes around their necks.

According to local councilmember Bob Nuñez, the eagles first appeared in 2017 before coming back over the past winter.

"It's very exciting for both the school children and our entire community, so we wanted to find a way to share this wildlife experience with everyone without causing any risk of disturbance to the eagles themselves," he said.

The answer was a custom-built camera with a high-resolution sensor, 30x optical zoom and both pan and zoom functions. Well played, Milipitas. 

The City of Milipitas says YouTube viewers will now be able to watch the chicks learn to fly. God bless America. 

Head to the City of Milipitas YouTube page to watch the majesty.

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