This just in from the gushing-fanboy department: I’ve been in contact lately with both Professor Ken Goldberg (leader of the CONE Sutro Forest project) and with Craig Newmark, and they both say they like the blog. Yay! Craig posted an item about it on his blog, and in another item he mentioned the Bald Eagle photo, and seemed to be okay with the humorous intent behind it. Prof Goldberg solicited my input on ways they might improve the system (which he’s probably regretting, since I proceeded to email him a novel-length treatment of the subject), and generally was very nice.
Most importantly, Craig mentioned in his email that Ken is actually on his way over to Craig’s as we speak, to replace the tall cylindrical feeder (they were out of sunflower seeds). Hopefully while he’s there he’ll also be able to replace the purloined suet and fill up the birdbath (which I noticed just now had a bunch of gray hairs in it. hmm…) Ah, the glamorous life of a professor.
Update: Yes! Fresh bath (lovingly washed out with a paper towel, to remove all those unsightly gray hairs):
A refilled suet feeder:
And best of all, joining the restocked cylinder o’ sunflower seeds, a sock feeder. Yeah! Bring on those goldfinches.
There was even a brief, embarrassed wave at the camera from Professor Ken, though I wasn’t fast enough on the “Take Snapshot” button to catch it.
Anyway you slice it, that’s some excellent full-service birdcam work. Let’s see the Santa Cruz Island eaglecam muster a full professor with a roll of paper towels to tidy up after the birds. I don’t think so.
CONE Sutro Forest rules!