Live Boulder Osprey Cam

Updates:

The recent hailstorms and strong winds damaged the osprey camera. Unfortunately the most recent rainstorm has caused them camera to malfunction again. We will not approach the nest due to the sensitive nature of the young fledgling. We fear that we could cause unnecessary stress to the entire family.

Nest Updates:

March 15: Camera live feed resumed for 2018 nesting season.

March 23: Nonresident female osprey seen at nest.

March 25: Male osprey arrived at nest.

March 28: Female osprey arrived at nest.

April 19: Egg No. 1 laid.

May 31: Chick hatched.

July 25: Chick Fledged

Staff Observations:

June 28 - Adult shading the nestling. Two other adult osprey seen around the lakes, but not sure to which nest they belong.
July 3 - Both adults in attendance. The chick is growing very quickly. It was mostly just laying down, but sat up and did some preening for a minute.
July 4 - One adult on the nest and one adult on the perch. One adult was shading the chick, who is quite large now. It was only able to get its head underneath the wing.
July 10 - The chick was alone in the nest on arrival. It did a bit of wing flapping but otherwise just stood in the nest. Eventually one of the adults came back and joined it standing on the nest. The nestling is now quite large and fully feathered. Both wings are normal. The parents are now leaving it by itself in the nest and the chick is testing its wings.
July 11 - One adult and one nestling on the nest on arrival. Another adult brought in a fish and then went to the upper perch. Adult on nest began feeding nestling.

Viewing Tips:

The camera is solar powered and completely “off the grid”. Prolonged periods of inclement weather may cause temporary outages. If an outage occurs, please be patient and we will restore the live stream as quickly as possible.

Background Information:

This video system was initially set up by Parks and Recreation staff at the Boulder reservoir for monitoring Osprey. However, for the past several years Canada Geese have taken the nest over from Osprey at that site. In spring 2016, OSMP partnered with Parks and Recreation to upgrade some of the camera components and move the system to a more dependable Osprey nest. In 2017 OSMP staff installed a new HD camera for a clearer picture. With the help of other city departments, including Information Technology and Utilities, we now have the camera streaming live!

OSMP wildlife staff have been monitoring the Osprey nest since 2011. Since then the nest has been successful every year, fledging a total of 14 young!

When viewing the Osprey, the male and female can be identified by their different markings. The female Osprey has a “bib” of dark feathers on her chest, whereas the male has an almost completely white chest.

Timeline:

Monitoring of this Osprey nest in past years has indicated:

March 20 - April 10: Adult Osprey return to the nest
April 21 - May 9: Eggs laid and incubation begins
June 9 - June 24: Eggs hatch
- Osprey eggs hatch in 36-42 days after being laid
Aug. 5 - Aug. 23: Young fledge
- Fledging occurs 50-55 days after hatching

Here is hoping to another successful nesting season!

Video Highlights:

Highlights from 2018 season.

Highlights from 2017 season.