Moraine activates ‘osprey cam’ livestream for 2024 season
A popular local cyber-tradition has returned for 2024, courtesy of Moraine State Park and mother nature.
The Moraine Preservation Fund, the volunteer organization which supports both Moraine and McConnells Mill parks, has reactivated Moraine’s “osprey cam” livestream in time for the anticipated seasonal return of the ospreys to their usual site in the park.
This year’s livestream went up on YouTube on Wednesday, March 6.
The camera is set up at a spot at Moraine State Park where a pair of ospreys has set up their nest, 40 feet above the ground. Usually, the male is the first to arrive at the park around the third week of March, followed by the female later that week.
The livestream shuts off for the year at around the time the ospreys migrate south, which generally takes place in late August or early September.
“Generally after the nesting season, Mom leaves first, then Dad and then the kids,” said Michelle Huff, a Moraine Preservation Fund board member who oversees the camera. “It’s the same pair every year.”
The “osprey cam” has been running since late 2018, located near the McDanel’s Launch in the North Shore area of the park. This year, the camera has been given a technical upgrade, courtesy of ITG Networks and PixCams.
“We had a lot of issues with buffering last year,” Huff said. “And we discovered that the issues were caused by the encoding of sound with the old camera.”
The livestream runs 24 hours a day, and the camera is equipped with infrared vision so viewers can see what’s happening even during the night hours. The infrared vision also means the camera does not require lights which would distract the local wildlife.
In fact, far from distracting them, Huff says that at least one of the ospreys has taken a liking to the camera.
“It’s Dad’s favorite place to stay,” Huff said. “He loves to sit on top of the pole where the camera’s mounted.”
According to Huff, theirs is the only live osprey camera running in the state of Pennsylvania.
“There's multiple eagle cams throughout the state, but this is the first and only osprey camera in the state,” Huff said.
Last year, the osprey cam and its livestream bore witness to a gruesome event. On the early morning of June 30, 2023, a green-horned owl invaded the osprey nest and devoured the three chicks.
“The owl was in the nest for the better part of three-and-a-half hours, although he killed all three chicks within 35 minutes initially,” Huff said.
However, osprey breeding season is cyclical. Each year, the male and female return to the same spot at Moraine State Park and begin the egg-laying process all over again.
“Mom and Dad will start all over again with new eggs, probably in mid-April,” Huff said. “Hatches generally follow around 35 days after that, so it’s usually May when the eggs will hatch.”
The livestream is available on YouTube, with a “live chat” feature.
