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A webcam that is connected to the Internet and live streams  wildlife activity for viewers to observe from their computers ("Webcam," n.d.). It is usually set up in one place for a long duration of time or certain time period to collect vast amounts of imagery of wildlife populations or targeted individual animals (Lamb, 2016). Webcams are used by wildlife biologists, conservationists, and educators to better understand wildlife behavior and identify individuals within a group of animals (Lamb, 2016; Schulwitz et al., 2018). Since many wildlife webcams are accessible online, public audiences are also able to peer into the lives and livelihoods of wildlife (Schulwitz et al., 2018).

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Different types of cameras are used depending on the study (Ratz and Conk, 2010). Digital cameras have been used to identify species at remote sites. Miniature video cameras have been used to record nesting activity or nest predation. Infrared video cameras have been used to capture footage in periods of low light or darkness (Ratz and Conk, 2010; Schulwitz et al., 2018).

Cameras must be mounted on a sturdy structure, such as a tree, pole, stake, or ledge, and connected to a computer or laptop to transmit the imagery (Ratz and Conk, 2010). Imagery is either in the form of photographs or videos. Different researchers have used various ways to retrieve their imagery, including connecting a digital PC camera to a streaming server, using a wireless transmitter to send imagery to a videocassette recorder (VCR) or to an onsite computer with a USB drive, connecting the camera to satellite and seeing the imagery on a laptop, and connecting a wireless transmitter to send video to a nearby visitor
center for visitors to view.

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Researchers select a site that would allow for little to no disturbance by people while still capturing plenty of imagery (Ratz and Conk, 2010).

Sufficient light is needed at an appropriate wavelength to permit quality
recording, but also to limit infrared light to not disturb wildlife (Ratz and Conk, 2010). Infrared illuminators have also been used to capture nocturnal behavior.

Depending on the animal researchers are trying to record, cameras can be set to either have a continuous or disjunct setting (Ratz and Conk, 2010). They can also either record on a time-lapse or when movement triggers them.

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Project Example: Viewing Behavior of Individuals 

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Project Example: Viewing Behavior of Individuals 

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The Falcon Cam on the 55 Water Street building in New York City brings New Yorkers closer to the life of a single urban peregrine falcon family. In urban environments, peregrines are usually found on the ledges of tall human-made structures that would be inaccessible to most people. They are currently listed as endangered in New York State, but have recovered significantly thanks to captive-breeding programs ("Bird Webcams," n.d.). The webcam allows both researchers and the public to monitor nesting activity and behavior, starting from when the adults incubate their eggs to when their young fledge.

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Project Example: Viewing Behavior of Populations

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Project Example: Viewing Behavior of Populations

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The Crane Trust uses a live 24-hour river cam on the Platte River in Nebraska during the great sandhill crane migration ("Who We Are: River Cam," n.d.). Crane Trust biologists study how sandhill cranes interact and acquire resources during their stopover in the state before continuing their northward migration to Canada, Alaska, and Siberia ("Ecological Overview: Sandhill Crane," n.d.).

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Watch the Sandhill Crane migration during March from the Crane Trust river cam.

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Webcams can engage and educate audiences of all ages in biology and conservation (Schulwitz et al., 2018). They can bring people closer to wildlife without being physically close. Not only have researchers used webcams to compliment their wildlife studies, but they have also been particularly interested in how webcams impacted a viewer's connection to the environment and environmental and conservation attitudes and behaviors (Ratz and Conk, 2010). One study indicated that watching a bald eagle cam for 30 minutes to 2 hours daily resulted in viewers not only learning more about eagle biology and habitat, but also developing a great sense of care and protection toward the eaglets (Johnson-Pynn and Carleton, 2019).

Many webcams grant audiences the ability to view wildlife at any time 24/7 (Buscher, 2016). People who cannot travel to far-off places  for any reason are able to watch what is occurring through webcam. They are by no means, however, being entirely passive in observing nature. There are discussion forums or live chats that are often associated with webcams, where people can engage with one another over what they have observed. Furthermore, viewers also do have a genuine curiosity of what the lifestyle of a non-human animal is like (Kamphof, 2013).

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Interruptions or damages could potentially occur in webcam equipment (Kamphof, 2013; Lamb, 2016). If a webcam is placed in an active nest or den with young and becomes malfunctioned, then onlookers would either have to deal with visual obstruction or stop watching altogether until the issue is eventually fixed (Kamphof, 2013). The animals themselves could also be visual obstructions for a lengthened period of time, particularly in smaller spaces. For example, an adult owl staying inside a nest box with downy young can block the webcam, leaving viewers having to wait until the adult leaves again to check the status of the young.

As people view wildlife webcams, they can become emotionally attached to the animals and may express concern and feelings of anger, sadness, or frustration over an animal that they see getting injured or even killed (Buscher, 2016). This can lead some viewers to pushing the owners of the webcams to intervene. Owners of webcams have had to remind viewers to "let nature take its course," meaning that the animals that the main features of webcams are wild and it is unnatural for humans to intervene ("NYU Hawk Cam," 2019). The owner of the NYU Hawk Cam gives a thorough explanation of this emphasis in the live stream video.

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Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Hancock Wildlife Foundation
International Wolf Center
Monterey Bay Aquarium
National Audubon Society
National Park Service

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Conservation organizations are still harnessing the effectiveness of webcams, regarding how it can evoke viewers' feelings, expose them to the beauty of nature, and inspire them into conservation action (Kamphof, 2011). By engaging the public, conservationists are further discovering how people, non-human animals, habitats, and technologies are not as separate as usually thought. This intertwining of all entities is becoming a larger trajectory, and evaluating viewership in relation to wildlife webcam technology can move researchers more toward their conservation goals.

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Bird Webcams. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7050.html.

Buscher, B. (2016). Reassessing Fortress Conservation? New Media and the Politics of Distinction in Kruger National Park. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 106(1), 114-129.

Ecological Overview Sandhill Crane. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://cranetrust.org/what-we-do/conservation/ecological-overview/sandhill-crane.html.

Johnson-Pynn, J.S. and Carleton, R. (2019). Webcams and Websites Inspire Conservation of the American Bald Eagle. Ecopsychology, 11(4).

Kamphof, I. (2011). Webcams to Save Nature: Online Space as Affective and Ethical Space. Foundations of Science, 16, 259–274.

Kamphof, I. (2013). Linking Animal and Human Places: The Potential
of Webcams for Species Companionship. Animal Studies Journal, 2(1), 82-102. Retrieved from https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=asj.

Lamb, J. (2016, April 28). Why We Can’t Turn Away from Wildlife Cams. Retrieved from https://daily.jstor.org/wildlife-cams/.

Ratz, J.M. and Conk, S.J. (2010). Use of Wildlife Webcams—
Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010-1306, 1-42.

Schulwitz, S.E., Spurling, D.P., Davis, T.S., and McClure, C.J.W. (2018). Webcams as an untapped opportunity to conduct citizen science: Six years of the American Kestrel Partnership's KestrelCam. Global Ecology and Conservation, 15, 1-8.

Webcam. (2020, February 6). (Eds). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webcam.

Who We Are: River Cam. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://cranetrust.org/who-we-are/river-cam.html.