LIVE Osprey Nest Cam

WELCOME to Ava and Arthur's LIVE 24/7 Nest Cam! The Osprey nest camera at Pleasant Hill Lake Park is located at the Swim Beach/Marina area in Perrysville, Ohio, and was made possible through a grant from the Firelands Electric People’s Fund in collaboration with the Firelands Electric Cooperative, Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, The Greater Mohican Audubon Society and HD on Tap for hosting the video streaming and online support.

NOTICES:

It appears that the osprey has dirtied the camera lens making it difficult to see. We do not want to disturb the parents or chicks to clean the lens. So we will leave it that way and maybe the rain will wash it clean.

During high water & storms the electricity may be off to the camera resulting in no video. We are working on making improvements to the cameras as time and resources permit us to.

NOTICE: This is a wild Osprey nest and anything can happen. While we hope that healthy Osprey chicks will end up fledging from the nest, things like sibling rivalry, predators, and natural disasters can affect the Osprey family and may be difficult to watch. As hard as it may be to see anything happen to our Osprey, we will let nature take its course and will not intervene.

We use infrared light for nighttime viewing. Infrared is not visible to the Ospreys or to humans, however,

the video camera can capture images. The Osprey camera GPS location: N40.644067 W82.341209

See something interesting or have questions?

Email us at [email protected] with the date & time and brief comments.

2022 PROGRESS REPORT:

Ava and Arthur returned from vacationing in South America on March 20th, 2022. On July 18th, 2020 three (3) osprey fledglings took flight and left the nest. The parents should return sometime in March 2023 to the nesting platform.

2023 PROGRESS REPORT

We repaired two (2) Osprey platforms (one with the camera) and installed two (2) new additional platforms on February 13, 2023. With assistance from Firelands Electric Cooperative and MWCD staff, the repairs and installations were completed before the return of Osprey. We currently have a total of eight (8) active Osprey nesting platforms and three (3) active Bald Eagle nests around the lake area. Welcome back Ava and Arthur, who returned on Monday, March 20, 2023, again this year. Each nesting pair of Osprey will migrate from South America to its original nesting site at the approximately same time each year. We welcome three (3) new chicks to the family. Let's hope they grow and make it through the season strong and healthy for their trip to South America in the fall. All three chicks fledged from the nest. You may see the young and adults occasionally at the nest but most of the time they appear hanging around the nest in nearby trees until it's time to migrate to South America.

Osprey has an amazing spring migration of over 3,000 miles. Click the link below for the full story. https://www.savecoastalwildlife.org/save-coastal-wildlife-blog/2020/3/24/ospreys-have-a-shocking-spring-migration

How can you tell if an Osprey is male or female?

Male and female Ospreys look very similar. Females are significantly larger than males and have more dark plumage in the breast band is the most obvious visual marker. Females also have longer wings, tails, claws, and beaks. Male Osprey typically weighs between 42-53 ounces while most females weigh between 56-70 ounces a difference between 15 & 20%.

Join us for a naturalist-led wagon tour of our Osprey nesting platforms. The tour is FREE and we provide binoculars and fun facts. Great outdoor experience for all ages. Call 419.938.7884 to sign up at the Welcome Center for dates and times.

OSPREYS nest on many different types of man-made structures including buildings, cellular towers, lights, boats, utility poles, and channel markers. Nests on utility poles can pose a significant risk to adult and juvenile osprey.

Nests on utility structures with energized wires pose risk to osprey from:

Fire Hazard- Nest material may ignite from contact with energized wires. Nestling ospreys would be at risk.
Electrocution- Osprey can touch parts of the energized structure with their body (wings, feet, bill) including when they excrete waste. Juveniles are especially susceptible as they begin to fledge the nest.

Providing alternate nesting platforms like the ones at Pleasant Hill Lake Park by Firelands Electric Cooperative helps minimize electric outages from bird electrocutions. We are working closely with other wildlife organizations on managing bird nests on power poles in and around Pleasant Hill Lake Park.

A MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL OSPREY FOUNDATION

THANK YOU to our Park Partners.

The Pleasant Hill Lake Osprey Nesting Platform Project was developed to increase the populations of Ospreys and Bald Eagles around the lake area. We currently have a total of eight (8) Osprey nesting platforms and three (3) active Bald Eagle nests around the lake area. The map below shows nesting sites and platforms near and around the lake area. Nesting sites are monitored, and data is collected and entered into Cornell University's Bird Inventory called NestWatch. (updated 13 MAR 2023)

Click the link for an interactive GIS Map https://gisportal.mwcdgis.org/portal/apps/View/index.html?appid=e4ff121bf33b4b85bdaf3a1fd0186502

Current known locations MAP for nesting OSPREY and BALD EAGLES around Pleasant Hill lake Park, Richland/Ashland Counties, Ohio