Why are live web cams so fascinating to watch? Is it the voyeur in us all, or is it innocent curiosity? The internet has already made the world a little bit smaller, but with the availability of live feeds from all over the planet, you no longer have to travel the globe to visit far-off places or observe wildlife at a famous zoo or in the rainforest. Just pop some corn, pour your favorite beverage and fire up the laptop. There’s a whole big wide world out there just waiting to be discovered.
Penguin Cam
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/frozen-planet/penguin-cam/?fb_ref=fb2&fb_source=home_oneline
Sea World, San Diego, recognized the instant super-stars they had in residence when they installed a camera in their Penguin Encounter. Streaming live video, you can watch and maybe even get to know the 300 penguins who make their home at the San Diego branch of Sea World. It’s hard not to laugh out loud at some of their antics, especially when they approach the camera and look directly into the lens. If you have the time to watch often or for long, you’ll become adept at distinguishing the five different Antarctic species living at the Encounter.
Times Square Cam
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/
New York—known as the Big Apple and the City that Never Sleeps. If you’ve ever wondered if it truly never sleeps but haven’t had the opportunity to visit New York City, you can check out a live streaming feed of the heart of New York at Times Square. Any time of day or night, rain or shine, you can catch a glimpse of the busy New York streets. With several different views from 7th and Broadway to 46th Street and a Tower cam, you just might become addicted to watching New Yorkers in their native habitat.
Sea Otter Web Cam
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_otter/otter_cam.aspx
If you aren’t aware that otters are among the cutest sea mammals on earth, check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Web Cam. It turns out that they’re fascinating to watch, too. They are fed four times throughout the day and to motivate their most natural instincts, the food is served to them inside toys and other objects. This encourages their natural behavior of pounding clam shells to break them open for the meat inside. Watching them interact with each other and their trainers, it’s easy to become a fan.
Ornithos Atlantic Rainforest Webcam
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/webcams/ornithos
In the Rainforest of Brazil’s tropical Parana State, a webcam has been set up to allow anyone with internet access to view the beautiful wildlife native to the area. If you’ve been fortunate enough to actually visit Brazil, then the Ornithos Atlantic Rainforest Webcam might serve as a fond reminder of your trip. But for those who do their traveling on the world wide web, this webcam is a window with a gorgeous view of a place you’ve only heard about. The first time you see a Blue-winged Parrotlet or a Black Jacobin, you’ll be eager for more. It will probably prompt you to put a non-stop flight to Brazil on your bucket list straight away.
Live View of O’Shea’s Bed and Breakfast, Dublin, Ireland
http://www.nci.ie/ispy/cam1.yp
Modestly named O’Shea’s Bed and Breakfast, the inn actually has 5 floors and plays proud host to O’Shea’s Bar, a legend in Dublin, Ireland. Since O’Shea’s is in the heart of the city, close to Grafton Street, placing a webcam trained on the corner entrance of the hotel gives the viewer plenty of pedestrian action to observe. The O’Shea’s webcam doesn’t stream, but the view is refreshed every 2 seconds, showing a stop-action kind of scene while still giving you an up to the minute look into Dublin.
Live webcams give us a chance to visit far-off places we might not otherwise go and to see things we might otherwise never see. Admittedly, if you haven’t ever taken a peek at a live webcam, you might not see the attraction. While some enthusiastically give in to their probing, inquisitive side, others might need to actually experience webcam viewing before they’re hooked. Be careful, though. There isn’t really an explanation for the phenomenon of the popularity of the webcam so you may, for no reason that you can determine, promptly become hooked on a live-feed that seems uninteresting on the surface. Don’t be surprised if you wake at all hours, desperate to know what the elephants on the Safari Park Pachyderm-Cam are doing.