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Why burn an entire year's CO2 budget on venturing to the other side of the planet to look at wildlife, when you can sit comfortably in front of your computer and enjoy it? We had that thought yesterday when we went to the launch of the World Land Trust's webcam project -- with the one and only Sir David Attenborough as the guest of honour. While we came to the conclusion that technology will never match the real thing, we certainly were impressed with the World Land Trust's idea.
The conservation trust's latest project is called Webcam in the Forest -- it films hummingbirds at a feeder in an Ecuadorian rainforest reserve, transmitting the little creatures' activities live to anybody with an internet connection. It's meant to engage the public with nature so we can see for ourselves why it's important to conserve it.
Sir David told us at the launch: "Over 50 per cent of the world's population is urbanised and out of touch with the nature 100 per cent of us depend on. Live transmissions [from nature] are crucial in connecting people to the world we're all part of. In the early days it was a very clumsy operation to have live cameras anywhere -- it's a wonder the wildlife tolerated it at all -- but things have improved in last 20 years and we can now get cameras so small, we can put them in a bird's nest." He continued: "It's more important than ever to keep in touch with the world and this [webcam] is a fantastic example of how we can try and do it."
Although 'high-risk, high-tech' -- as the World Land Trust's CEO, John A Burton called it -- the webcam was having technical difficulties and Sir David didn't get a chance to speak to the BBC's John Sparks live from Ecuador, which was the plan. We did, however, get a sneak preview of how the webcam will work. Seeing the hummingbirds drink sugar-water from the feeder with the lush Ecuadorian rainforest in the background was very touching and we're sure that when the webcam goes live to the public on 1 February, it'll be a success.
Just before Sir David had to head off to do a broadcast, botanist Lou Jost presented him with a photograph of a new tree species they'd discovered near the World Land Trust's webcam. The tree will be named after the wildlife legend, who definitely knows how to connect us urbanites with nature and make us want to conserve it.
The hummingbird feeder in Buenaventura Reserve and the webcam
The Buenaventura Reserve in the Ecuadorian Rainforest
19 January 2008 03:24pm
I live in Ecuador and do hummer photograpy, would love to see the web cam, any info will be appreciated.
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