looduskalender.ee

Here is a clip from Estonian TV Kanal 2(channel 2):

http://www.reporter.ee/2009/01/06/eesti ... rnetihitt/

Translated by our member Rebane:
1. Estonian forest, online, all over the world. This camera sends a picture about the dealings of the wildlife straight to the internet. Watching of the everyday life of the animals has become a way of life for many.

Mait: It seems that from the last year the interest for the camera has rised. About 30 000 people looks at the camera daily. The watchers of the camera are from more than 100 countries. 40% of the overall watchers are from outside of estonia.

2. You can watch the camera from http://www.looduskalender.ee. There is also a forum where people can leave their thoughts. And it seems that someone is watching the camera 24h. Couple of minutes after Reporter visited the feeding ground, the information about blue coat cameraman was already up in the forum.

3. But what do the TV stars eat? Is there a special menu because of the fame?

Mait: The main food right now is grain. The mix of wheat and barley. Also acorns thanks to Ilmatsalu kindergarden. They collected more than 300kg of them. That is one of the favorite foods of the boars and there is also corn.

4. Like you just heard Ilmatsalu kindergarden children were collecting acorns for the pigs. It became a small scale competition between children and also between the teachers that who collects more.

Next they ask questions from the children. Did you also collect acorns? Yes. For whom? For the piggies. Have you seen the piggies? Yes.

5.The local hunters know many funny stories about the pigs although not many has been recorded.
Jan Siimson: The funniest might be when the boar wanted to get the meat form the table and climed up there with all four legs.
Why is the table there?
Jan: It is for the hawks and eagles.
But the pig couldn't resist temptation?
Jan: Yes, the pig couldn't handle it and climbed on the table to get the meat.

6. But the watchers outside estonia also have comments.
Jan: Yes. People have written that when the hunters go to put the food down then they would also wave.
So that when in front of the camera then he should do some show?
Jan: Yes

7. There are other animals, except pigs, that are caught in front of the camera. Just look how well forest birds and animals get along. Also the deers who were afraid of the light at the beginning got over their mistrust. Inspite of the stagefright they performed in front of the camera n the end of December.

8. How and from where gets the electricity into the forest?
Mait: The electricity comes from the hunting lodge what is about 150 metres from here.

9. But is the Pig camera the only one where the forest animals can show themselves?
Mait: There is also an eagle camera what will be up until the spring. I don't know if there will be any other cameras because the nature is unpredictable. You can not plan those things but if anyone is interested then you can always keep an eye on it by checking Looduskalender. The information will be up there.

Well the background music has funny words.
For example, at the beginning they are singing: "Look, look, look at me."

Then the next song has word what goes something like this:
"Word of the trophy competition was published
Which was a joke for all the animals
If you have a stimulant then there is no problem to hunt
and to slay some people
... The government put down some rules
Don't hunt mothers and children,
and some men who have had a drink..."
It sounds quite funny and goes well with the subject.

When Mait is preparing the food for the pigs then the song goes like this:
"Come to the cafeteria with me,
There is enough soup for everyone."

And when they show the children taking the food to the pigs then the words are:
"I am walking alone in the forest
There are fir and birch all around.
The squirrel sit up in the pine tree,
Birdie is twittering
tweet, tweet, tweet
The birdie was singing like that,
Tweet, tweet, tweet
He was singing until the evening"

Article in "Päevaleht"

http://www.epl.ee/uudised/456681

In Estonian so far....

there is told that SEA-TV becomes very popular in every day. 40% of the watchers are not estonians, there are people of the whole world. When the pig-cam started there was viewers over million and the number of watchers grows, now over two million watchers. Average number of watchers at day is 75000 and sometimes 100000 watchers. Over 120 countries watch that. And there is told how Mait goes there every night to serve the dinner. Mait tells that every night he brings there a bucket of barley and wheat mix, second bucket apples and a quarter bucket of corns and acorn mix. He told that approximately 17 boars are visiting the feeding ground at night. And there describes who visits the feeding ground sometimes too- fox, roe deer, raccoons.
Ok this was the summary of very bad english, maybe someone wants to translate it better but maybe you understand it...

Yes!!
We understand every word - thank you very much for your effort. It is so good to know that "our" place is in the news.

Yes it becomes more popular after these articles and what are shown in tv.

Maybe each article in the media co-incides with a surge in membership registrations?

I noticed that when the Kanal-2 (tv) showed this feeding ground at tv, there was so many people at this night and next night here in forum, over 100...

Thank you very much for the translation, Robin!

Now i found translated article on Yahoo News

Estonia's "Boar TV" is a hit with nature lovers
TALLINN (AFP)
Wed Jan 28, 10:21 am ET

A webcam set up in an Estonian forest has proven an unexpected hit among Internet surfers who want to catch a glimpse of wild boars feeding and frolicking in the snow, organisers said Wednesday.

"Such massive interest has been a really big surprise for us. It shows that people feel a need to have a connection with nature," said Gennadi Skromnov, the man behind "Metsakaamera", or "Boar TV".

The webcam was set up in December by a hunting association in the heavily-forested Baltic state, which is one of the most Internet-wired countries in the world.

The site (http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/2165) is notching up around 75,000 clicks a day, with almost half the visitors based abroad, notably in the Czech Republic, Germany and Nordic nations.

For the boars, the trade-off for appearing on camera is a regular feed of barley, wheat, apples and acorns, served up every evening to attract them, said Mait Siimson of the Tahtvere hunters' association.

"Seventeen wild boars usually gather for dinner around 5:30 to 6:00 pm (1530-1600 GMT), when it's already dark, and stay for around an hour," Siimson told AFP.

"The site is probably so popular because it's much more interesting to follow wild boars than birds or smaller animals," he added.

The webcam boars are also spared the unwelcome attentions of the association, because the feeding site is not in an area where its members hunt.

a new article about Looduskalender webcameras.
this time the stars are small birds
http://www.ohtuleht.ee/index.aspx?id=315202

the headline goes " The Restaurant in front of the Hidden Camera"

Restaurant in front of hidden camera


“Good morning Estonia,“ recived the happy earlymorning greeting from Netherland to the internetforum Looduskalender. First friends of birds are already in front of their computer to watch for another episode of the realityshow-todays transfer from birds feedinghouse.

First visiors of the feedinghouse are coming from the morningtusk. Great tits, whos darkblack stripes on their bellys are in many screens all over the world. The action of this extraordinery realityshow is happening in one of the small town of estonia, in ordinary courtyard where is the feedinghouse.

Virtual meetingplace

in the web are very ordinary winterbirds from estonia in their everydayaction. With the camera can oftenly see those things what belongs in classc filmart: falling love and hate, harmony and competition, wiseness and foolness, fear and curiosity…

what kind of tablemanners different birds have? how the malepigeon are hitting off their choosen one?

„welcome to estonia“

Still… how is it possible that jackdaws are able to sort as quick as lightening out the peanuts from the seeds? You can find the anwsers to those and meny other questions from the pictures by the side or watching the next episodes on the webaddress http://www.looduskalender.ee

The hobbyists more than hundred countrys are watching this realityshow and estonia is became to a virtual meetingplace for thousends of birdwatchers.

At this point return to mind the germans who has watch the cameras from looduskaamera and says that they can not remember that they have ever looking so hard any information about some country like they do now.. Looking information about estonia. They have planed their holidays to estonia already.

It is true that the export of service is sometimes pretty easy. Just sprinkle some seeds and peanuts to the feedinghouse in earlymorning and the nature and todays technic are doing the rest.

Laaly, thank you. How interesting that we can now read what Estonian articles say about our webcams. Great to have another translator on the team.
You are welcome!

thank you

Thank you Laaly for translation.
I´d like to add that this article is written by Arne Ader(Mr. Birdfeeder)

you welcome :)
sry, i just forget that, i'll try not to do this anymore

Comcast Tries New Ways To Control Bandwidth Pigs - no, it is not about our pigs, or Pig Camera viewers , just about some users hogging a lot of Internet streamspace.
But those Pig Camera statistics - thanks, Eenet and Jo! - can anyone please explain the bandwidth / average time (secs) relation a little - if there is any at all, for the countries ranking? Arvi?

Hard to say for sure - I'm not very familiar with web hosting, and statistics used there. But probably one of definitions here is matching.

Hi, EEnet & Looduskalender - it would be fun to have those statistics as, say, an (endless, nearly) long row of piggies, in appropriate sizes. Surely you have handy people around, or people with even handier kids & programs. I & my computer can just manage the ordinary Excel circle thing.
(Edit: a little more sophisticated version - "who takes the biggest piece of pie" )

Liis - that is clever - A Pig Cam Pie Chart.
Thank you for the effort

Thanks - but even better with those newspaper statistics illustration things. A row or gang of piggies, carrying appropriate nation flags...