Osprey Nest Webcam on a Beach in Sandy Hook

When you survive on a diet consisting of fish, it’s a good idea to make your abode close to where that source of nutrition is readily available. For this pair of ospreys that didn’t mean next to the nearest supermarket or fishmonger’s shop, but right on the beachfront in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Do they care about the sunbathers on the sands invading their prestigious territory? It doesn’t appear so.

Ospreys are not small raptors. When they take flight, their wing span can spread to just under two metres which can cast quite a shadow when they flit over the lounging human seals and head out across the Atlantic. If there are no birds in the nest when you join the feed, don’t worry, they’ll be back – sometime. It just depends how long it takes for them to catch their lunch. That could be minutes or it could be hours as these birds are almost tireless when airborne.

But return to this twiggy nest they will. And while their messily constructed abode wouldn’t fetch a high price on the Jersey Shore real estate market, they seem quite content in their beachfront location. And let’s face it, who wouldn’t be as long as it had a few more home comforts and well, a roof. If you were hoping to see osprey chicks in the nest, tune in around June time and you may well be in luck.