Live Cam Could Create a Bird's Eye View of Ocean City Osprey Nest

In the coming weeks, osprey chicks will begin hatching in nests that dot Ocean City’s bayside waterways. If some advocates have their way, bird enthusiasts will be able to watch the hatchlings and their parents live online.

Ocean City’s Environmental Commission is attempting to secure grant money to stream activity from an osprey nest online. A solar-powered camera already is focused on a platform nest, but so far the feed reaches only a closed-circuit TV at the city’s Bayside Center.

While waiting to hear on a grant application filed with New Jersey American Water Company, commission members also are considering starting a nonprofit to raise funds for the streaming and necessary equipment. The group estimates it will cost about $150 per month to stream the feed.

Watching the nests not only provides voyeuristic peeks into ospreys’ lives, but it helps Ocean City residents connect with the wildlife that surrounds them, says Bill Stuempfig, an Environmental Commission member. 

And, as an "indicator species" that die out in unhealthy areas, ospreys are a living barometer of the bay, he adds.

The flourishing population “is an indicator that the bay is in really good shape—it’s clean and vibrant. To support the birds, it needs to produce a lot of fish,” Stuempfig says. “It keeps people in touch with how precious the environment is around here. Ospreys are thriving here because it’s healthy.”

Humans can also track their favorite ospreys—the birds of prey generally return to the same nest year after year, and do so with the same partner. The male and female separate after the season and meet up again the following year, although some males, which hunt for food for the chicks and females, care for more than nest at a time, Stuempfig explains.

Even the recent bridge construction, a project that has run for three years, didn’t deter the ospreys from returning to the nest nearest to the Bayside Center.

“They did come back, although a little later this year,” Stuempfig notes. “It does look like there’s a new female.” 

Approximately 85 osprey platform nests dot the waterways from Sea Isle City through Ocean City, Longport, Margate and Ventnor, and each nest produces an average of two chicks. While anyone can observe the birds from afar or paddle in kayaks for a closer look, Stuempfig says Web-streaming the feed will allow people to observe while leaving the nests alone.

He also hopes a closer look will deter people from polluting the bay. Ospreys are “junk collectors,” says Stuempfig, and he has found everything from plastic bags to T-shirts to discarded Barbie dolls in their nests.

“One year, I saw a chick who was completely wrapped in fishing line; it was cutting into the bird’s tissue,” Stuempfig, who has a license from the state to band the ospreys, recalls. “You’re never supposed to touch them, but I didn’t have a choice. I removed the bird and cut away the line. A week later, that bird, fortunately, was fine.”

While the Environmental Commission waits to hear news on funding the streaming feed, Stuempfig encourages everyone to take a moment and observe the ospreys in Ocean City.

“We can all use the bay recreationally, and the birds are right there,” he says. “Even people who don’t know about birds are just amazed at how big they are. It’s a thing to behold.”

Learn more about efforts to protect area ospreys at the New Jersey Osprey Project.