Monarchs & Milkweed

This blog post has nothing to do with monarch butterflies. I just really wanted to share this site. I’ve been watching Explore.org for about five weeks now. There are cameras focused on numerous nests with eggs and/or babies at different stages of development. It’s amazing, with high-tech cameras, how we can ‘peek’ into a nest so easily and effortlessly to observe these wonders of nature.

My personal favorite right now is the Great Gray Owl live cam. I can’t get over their quirky faces, goofy hoots, and silly stretches. It’s hard to stop looking at those adorable, fluff-ball GGO babies. They are beautiful. And funny!

I was able to take this screen capture yesterday from the Explore.org site. (Be careful or many hours will pass before your eyes!)

Decide which Live Cam is your favorite. Take yourself over to Explore.org and check out some of the dozens of live cameras mounted near a nest or activity area. I don’t remember how I stumbled across this site, but I can say that my life will never be the same.

If you use a desktop or laptop computer with a mouse, you can scroll ‘back in time’ to see what happened earlier in the day. Just click on the horizontal scroll bar (history line) to take you to different scenes that have already occurred. You can also press and drag slowly with your mouse, but I find this process rather jumpy. Then return to the live camera by clicking the Live button or clicking the far right point of the history line.

If you use smartphone or tablet, you will only get a live-camera image with no ability to scroll back through the history. That’s okay, but don’t be frustrated. Just check back often to see what’s happening.

There are sounds, too. I especially love hearing the wind blow, the cows mooing and birds chirping in the background, and the owl hoots at night. The Charlo, Montana osprey female shrieks like I’ve never heard before. Very talkative. Plus, their nest is near numerous Canada geese who always seem to be partying. Sometimes I need to mute the sounds to concentrate on my work.

Bookmark your favorite Explore.org Live Cams in your browser. Check in from time to time. Scroll down to read comments from the professionals and from interested folks taking time out of their day to see how nature is doing. See you there!