Bluegill Blog - Welcome!
Monday, June 15, 2009 at 4:22PM | MN Bound Editor Welcome to the 2009 Broadband-MN Bluegill Blog! We are excited to bring you yet another unque look into nature. Our last webcam featured a nesting pair of loons and everything they must go through to hatch their babies. While that is an incredible view, we are extremely excited to expand our webcams and bring nature right into your living room, work office, kitchen or class room for even more action.
In our series of Live wildlife webcams for 2009, our second camera takes us under the water for a unique glimpse of a spawning bluegill. Several bluegills to be exact, and our camera is rolling right on their spawning bed. Details about everything that is occuring will come as we move along, but right now our main focus is to find out...
How do wild fish interact during their spawning cycle?
How do they protect their nest from predators, big and small?
How does weather patterns effect their challenges?
What do they do when all of this these factors are against them?
These questions will likely play themselves out several times before the bluegill spawn is complete, and YOU will all be able to witness them. Whether you are looking to understand this experience to better your fishing success, or just to understand how life moves under the water, you are in luck. We will keep you updated on everthing that is happening at all times. Plus, you can interact in the Viewer Chat Room to discuss anything that you are seeing or questions that you may have. So tell your friends, family, children and grandchildren, because we are back with another great look into our wild outdoors!
Bluegill Webcam Facts:
Water depth - 3 ft deep
Water temp - TBD during each blog update
Camera placement - Facing East at a distance of 3 ft from spawning beds
Lake Location - Central Minnesota
Lake Size - 285 Acres
Lake Species Present - Bullhead, Black Crappie, Bluegill, Bowfin (Dogfish), Common Carp, Green Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, White Sucker, Yellow Perch
Travis Frank - Travis@mnbound.com
Reader Comments (5)
Congratulations Travis and Ron on the new cam!!!
Ahhhh, now if there was only a way to do some fishing thru the cam!
About two weeks ago on Lake Olson in Lake Elmo I sat on the end of the dock and watched our sunnies spawn. The male in his near vertical posture was furiously fanning the rocks in the spawn bed getting it just right. The femaie was then allowed to enter the spawn and I watched as the swam sideways and seemed to tremble as part of the ritual. The most amazing thing was watching the gill spots (they look almost black) as the male defended the nest. These gill spots were actually thrusting forward as the male chased the intruders and appeared to be the most flourescent blue,green and aqua colors. I never realized that they could display in this manner. I watched for nearly two hours with out right laughter and oohs and ahs. It was like watching a National Geographic episode. So check out the "black" gill spots as the territory is defended.
Great re-enactment of what you saw. That is why we chose to have this camera, and to let others know how neat this part of nature really is. Thanks for sharing Barb!
Does anyone know the camera does not work and has not for almost a week?
We get no response on the other blog.
I enjoyed the loon cam , and would like to enjoy this one and show it to my grandson, but it has not worked.
Thanks
I had the same problem, I am not really impressed with this one. I had no problems with the other cam. I was having the same problem and just gave up.