How does the FalconCam work?

The Ohio Division of Wildlife has set up a unique system to capture the nesting activity up on the ledge. Below is an overview of how the pieces fit together to deliver the experience to Web viewers like you.

The cams are located on the 41st floor of the Rhodes State Office Tower in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

The LedgeCam captures a wide angle view of the activity outside the nestbox.

The NestboxCam is positioned directly in front of the nestbox to capture egg laying and hatching behavior.

How is the video captured and presented via the Internet?

The diagram below illustrates the technical pieces in place for capturing video and making it available to falcon enthusiasts everywhere via the World Wide Web.

Step 1 (see above diagram)
Video is captured from both the Nestbox Camera and the Ledge Camera. The video feeds travel down an entire floor of the building to two separate personal computers that capture the video.

Step 2 (see above diagram)
Both PCs capture photographic images (JPG files) and encode video into the Windows Media format. The photos are sent via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to a Web hosting server. The compressed videos are sent via an Internet connection to the Streaming Video Hosting Server which manages bandwidth and playback of video for multiple users.

Step 3 (see above diagram)
Your personal computer requests to view the photos and video through your Internet connection in your Web browser.