Awesome Osprey Classroom

1) Most osprey pairs will lay fertilized eggs in April or May and incubate.

2) After 36-42 days, the eggs hatch (mid-late June). Period of high frequency daily fish deliveries!

3) Finally after 55-60 days, the nestlings learn how to fly and take that first flight off of the nest (successful fledging)! Less fish will be delivered during this time to encourage the fledglings to fish on their own.

 

Select one of the live osprey webcams to view below

 

Chat with members

 

Fill out the observation report whenever you visit

 

Tune in to the Awesome Osprey Live channel for live interviews every Thursday at 2:30pm MDT (-6 GMT)

 

Step By Step Instructions:

1. Select a live nest cam assigned to you or any other cam you wish to view by tapping on the arrow below video player and tap the camera to select it for display.

2. Press the play button in the middle of the video screen.

3. Pause, play, rewind, and mute the live feed as desired.

4. When rewinding, be sure to tap the "live" text next to the mute icon to jump to the current live broadcast view.

5. Use the Live Chat box to discuss what you see and catch up on recent observations with other members.

6. Use the Discussions thread to post pictures or video clips about what you see so other members can easily catch up on the most important news or action at the nest.

7. Enter your observations in the appropriate numbered nest observation log whenever you stop by to watch the osprey.

8. Tune in to the ranch channel each Thursday at 2:30pm MDT (-6 GMT) for special live broadcasts featuring osprey experts and scientists.

9. Feel free to explore more things around the DaysAtDunrovin website. We have several other live cams and plenty to see and do!

10. If you have any technical problems, just email [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Tech Support

Here are some of the most common issues when watching a live stream:

Some cameras have audio, some do not. You may wish to only listen to one audio feed, but watch several video feeds.

 

To mute or unmute an audio channel, tap the speaker icon near the lower left corner of the video window.

 

You may experience delays or video buffering if you have more than one video playing at the same time. Simply pause one or more videos, or refresh the web page and try again.

 

Check out our video tutorials for more details about how to use the live camera viewers and other website features.

 

Visit our tech support page for more tips or contact [email protected]

CANADA

NEST 1, Osoyoos: In 2015, FortisBC, a Canadian utility company, and the Town of Osoyoos discovered a nesting pair of ospreys on an electric pole and saw this as an opportunity for education. The power line electricians could not install a camera on the power pole. However, the team installed a separate pole and a camera to avoid any inconveniences! When ospreys build nests on live power poles, there can be a lot of problems for the birds, utility customers and the equipment. For example, debris from a nest can cause power outages and fires that can injure or kill ospreys. Currently, FortisBC installed more than 70 nesting platform poles throughout their service area. In 2019, this nest was not successful due to all of the nestlings falling out of the nest.
Nest Camera: https://www.osoyoos.ca/content/osprey-nest-live-webcam
FortisBC: https://www.fortisbc.com/about-us/environment/osprey-management-program

 

FINLAND

NEST 2, Satakunnan sȁȁkset: The lead scientist, Dr. Jari Valkama from the University of Helsinki, and his team have an osprey camera system that includes four nests! The main pair from nest camera 1, have been the center of attention and has captured the hearts of many followers. In fact, they have names, Alma (F) and Ossi (M), and their nest is located on the edge of a marsh atop a 25 foot pine tree. For the past 14 years, this pair has been successful with an average productivity rate of 2.36 offspring/year. Last season was a tragic year for this pair because ten days before fledging, all three nestlings were predated upon by a goshawk. It was very difficult to watch, but one realizes how vulnerable nestlings can be.
Nest Camera: https://www.saaksilive.fi/live/

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NEST 3, Seili Island: Dr. Jari Hanninen is the lead researcher and professor at the Archipelago Research Institute, The Biodiversity Unit of the University of Turku. With the Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS), scientists provide a live 24-hour feed of an osprey nest located on the island of Seili in the middle region of the Archipelago Sea of Finland. The camera system has been in operation since 2006! During the last season, the resident pair Olof (M) and Malin (F) successfully fledged one chick, Kari.
Nest Camera: https://saaristomeri.utu.fi/seili-osprey-web-camera/

 

UNITED KINGDOM

NEST 4, Loch of the Lowes: Scottish Wildlife Trust has worked with its partners, members, and supporters for over 50 years to manage a network of 120 wildlife reserves across Scotland. One of their pride and joys is their very own osprey nest camera. On March 21^st, the resident male, LM12, returned to the nest which marked the 51^st year of ospreys returning to this site! NCO (F) and LM12 are currently bonding and busy with “nestorations” (restoring the nest). There is a loch stocked with trout right next door and it will be very interesting in how many they catch!
Nest Camera: https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/watch-wildlife-online/loch-of-the-lowes-webcam/

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NEST 5, Barnegat Light (New Jersey): Ben Wurst of The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, has been a champion for ospreys and spearheads the New Jersey Osprey Project. Since 2004, Ben and his team have installed over 185 nesting platforms in areas where suitable habitat exists and to replace old and unsafe structures. They have concentrated much of their work on Barnegat Bay and installed the Barnegat Light Osprey Cam! In 2019, the nesting pair produced two offspring and were banded for tracking.
Nest Camera: http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/education/ospreycam/

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NEST 6, The City of Boulder (Colorado): Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) partnered with Parks and Recreation to install a new HD osprey nest camera and nest near Valmont Reservoir, Colorado. The initial location of the previous nest had some very interesting and unique issues as it was successfully defended by Canada Geese! Since the move and the upgrade, the nest has been successful every year and fledged a total of 14 young. OSMP wildlife staff have been monitoring the Osprey nest since 2011. Due to a non-viable egg, the breeding pair in 2019 experienced a nesting failure.
Nest Camera: https://bouldercolorado.gov/osmp/osprey-cam

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NEST 7, Cowlitz (Washington): When an osprey pair attempted to build a nest on Cowlitz PUD’s distribution pole in April 2000, line crews deemed this a safety risk for the public and for the osprey. As a result, they designed and built an alternate higher nesting platform near the same pole where they tried to build the original nest. The ospreys accepted the alternate nesting platform and for 15 years, a pair has been returning to their summer home in Cowlitz County. This osprey cam is a public outreach tool in association with their Avian Protection Plan.
Nest Camera: https://www.cowlitzpud.org/about/osprey-cam/

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NEST 8, Dunrovin Ranch (Montana): Dunrovin wouldn’t be Dunrovin without the osprey nest. For years, Ozzie and Harriet have returned to rear chicks, and this is the place to discover their whole story, including the tragic loss of Ozzie in the summer of 2014. These two were models of perseverance, hope, and diligence. Dunrovin Ranch’s location along the Bitterroot River, with its riparian cottonwood forest, makes it a magnet for birds of all kinds. The ospreys demand top billing with the enormous nest that is a centerpiece of the ranch and their boisterous family life is a hallmark of Dunrovin’s summers. Harriet and her new mate are ready for this season!
Nest Camera: https://www.daysatdunrovin.com

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NEST 9, Emma, Pitkin County (Colorado): In the fall of 2015, Pitkin County Open Space and Trails partnered with Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, the Pitkin County Healthy Rivers and Streams Board, Pitkin County Information Technology and Holy Cross Energy installed a wildlife camera on a pole adjacent to an active osprey nest. The nest sits on a platform between Highway 82 and the Roaring Fork River in a riparian (near river banks) ecosystem. The camera saw its first use in 2016 and was replaced in the spring of 2018 with a new and better version. The 2019 breeding season was very successful for the resident pair and fledged three offspring!
Nest Camera: https://pitkincounty.com/953/Osprey-Cam

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NEST 10, Lake Murray (South Carolina): This nest is on private property and the owners of this nest cam are very kind and generous to share the life of Ricky and Lucy. Their story began in 2013 when they spent a breeding season building a nest to half completion and when they returned in 2014, they completed the nest and successfully fledged three offspring! However, things were not always easy for this pair as three of their nesting trees were destroyed by storms in the following years. Through the love of the landowners, they provided homes for this pair each and every time they needed one. This is a beautiful story and now in the 2020 season, Ricky and Lucy are  incubating!
Nest Camera: https://www.lakemurrayosprey.com/

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NEST 11, Savannah (Georgia): First this nest was home to Bald Eagles and when they abandoned it, the nest became a home for Great Horned Owls. However, in 2017 the pair of owls never returned and since then, this has been a wonderful home for a pair of ospreys that continuously fledge offspring. Located near a protected and nutrient-rich salt marsh along the Georgia coast, fish thrive and hence, the osprey do too! The nest is nearly 80 feet high and situated in one of the six Audubon International Certified golf courses at The Landings, on Skidaway Island, Savannah, Georgia.  Last season was very successful for the resident pair with three fledglings and incubation is already underway!
Nest Camera: http://landingsbirdcam.com/

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NEST 12, Chesapeake Bay (Maryland): This is the world of Tom and Audrey, the resident pair of ospreys, on the home and property of “The Crazy Osprey Family” on Kent Island off of Maryland’s Eastern Slope. 2019 marked the 7th season that “The Crazy Osprey Family” has partnered with the Chesapeake Conservancy and the 3rd year with Explore.org. In 2018, Explore.org installed an updated and more advanced camera, but that crazy family set up the first camera 16 years ago as an educational resource. Last season after their annual public bird-naming contest, the lone nestling was named “Lil Bit” and successfully fledged on July 17. Surprisingly, another osprey fledging from another nearby nest landed on Lil Bit’s nest and resided there until the end of the season.
Nest Camera: https://chesapeakeconservancy.org/what-we-do/explore/wildlife-webcams/osprey/

 

About the life history of ospreys

▪  Ospreys 101: Scientific Classification

▪  Ospreys 101: Characteristics, Behavior, and Migration

▪  Ospreys 101: Nesting, Mating, and Chicks

▪  Cornell University's website AllAboutBirds.org is an excellent source of information on ospreys.

 

Books about ospreys

▪  Alan F. Poole is a world leading expert on ospreys and has written two books about them: Ospreys: A Natural and Unnatural History,  and Ospreys: The Revival of a Global Raptor,

▪  Roy Dennis' book A Life with Ospreys follows the bird's history in Scotland from becoming extinct in the 1800's to being reintroduces in the 1950's, to rebounding to nearly 200 breeding pairs today.

▪  David Gessner's two books about ospreys, Return of the Osprey: A season of flight and Wonder and Soaring with Fidel combine his personal memoir with natural history of the ospreys and their habitats along the east coast of the United State to Cuba.

 

Children's books about ospreys

▪ Teena Ruark Gorrow’s and Craig Koppie’s book Inside an Osprey’s Nest: A photographic Journey was named and Honor winter for the Green Earth Book Award in the Young Adult Nonfiction cartegory.

▪  Bob Bierregaard’s book Belle’s Journey received two Honorable mentions in the 2018 National Outdoor Book Awards’ Children’s division and was places on the national Science Teacher’s Association’s list of outstanding trade books in 2019.

▪ Dorothy Hinshaw Patent’s book The Call of the Osprey was chosen as a 2016 National Science Teacher’s Association’s Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students k-12.  Her book contains photos and descriptions of two Montana osprey nests, including the Dunrovin nest.

Donna Love’s book Awesome Ospreys: Fish Birds of the World is a scientific and light-heated book to acquaint children with the life cycle of ospreys.