Many years ago, the local power company, Public Service of Colorado, placed a nest box on the smokestack of one of their power plants. They put a camera inside, and watched what happened.

What happened was that a pair of Great Horned Owls moved in and raised a family. The public got to watch. Very cool.

Fast forward several decades. PSC merged with two other power companies in 1995 to form Excel. One of the other companies also had bird cams (which is the story you read in their “Information” page.) Excel now has at least five raptor cams, three in Colorado and two in Minnesota. https://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/cams

Both Bald Eagles and Great Horned Owls begin nesting in January, if you can believe it. Right now, I’ve only seen activity in the Bald Eagle nest. https://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/cams/xcel_energy_eagle_cams/eagle_cam_two

I saw them mating earlier, and interestingly, in this pair, the male seems to be the larger. In raptors, usually, it is the female who is bigger.

I have two monitors on my computer and have one on the bird cam permanently. I look forward to watching the nest cams through the spring and summer. I hope you enjoy them, too!