Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project

Photo by Bret Rogers

For close to a year now I have been dreaming and working toward placing a camera in the tree above our bald eagle nest.  The camera will allow us to view the activities in the nest and will provide us with a view that not many people have the privilege to see.  I feel honored and blessed that the eagles have trusted our golf course as a suitable place to raise their family and we are taking every step necessary not to disturb them during the process of this project.

The project started by visiting some other bald eagle cams on the web and wondering why we couldn't do that.  It has taken almost a year worth of research and planning but we are oh so close.  The project is funded by the Friends of Harrison Bay State Park, the United States Golf Association Green Section, and the East and Middle Tennessee Golf Course Superintendents Associations.  I am extremely grateful and thankful for the support from these organizations and am so excited about getting this project off the ground. 

Photo of first juvenile eagle last year

Dave Leff of Horizon Electronics has worked tirelessly to research and recommend the best camera setup for the project.  We have decided to place two stationary cameras at different angles in the tree which will provided us with 24 hour viewing of activities in and around the nest.

Live web streaming of the eagles nest will be visible at our website http://www.harrisonbayeaglecam.org/ and on the blog http://hbspeaglecam.blogspot.com/.  Give us a little time to get things up and running.  We hope to have the streaming video available by mid December so we can all enjoy the building of the nest, the laying and hatching of the eggs, and the fledging of the baby eagles.  As time goes on and we hopefully gain valuable footage and information about the eagles we will post information on Twitter and Facebook.

As you can imagine this project is very involved and I can not thank the volunteers that have given their time, expertise and financial support to get this project off the ground.

The goal of this project is to continue to show interested individuals that golf courses are good for the environment and if maintained and managed properly can be an environmental asset.  We hope you like the project and ask for your prayers and support for its success.

Bunker renovation continues

Two down and 15 to go.  That is the status of our 2011 sand bunker renovation project of the back nine bunkers.  We started with the fairway and greenside bunker on #10 and also the two leftside greenside bunkers on #11. 

Watering of the sand once it is installed in the bunker is the key to getting it initially packed.  The better it is packed the first time the better and longer it will perform properly. Bill has already wet and packed this bunker twice with the sand pro.

Bill is using a roller squeege to help pack the sand on the steep face of this bunker behind #11 green. 

Sometimes you just have to do things the hard way.  Unfortunately, in order not to damage the floor of the bunkers or the existing drain tiles the crew is having to remove the sand from the bunkers by hand.  Slow process but they are doing a great job at it.