Barnegat Light Osprey Cam

Описание: Live view from an osprey nest located in Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island, Ocean County, New Jersey.

This live streaming camera was first installed for the 2019 nesting season, where two young were produced by the unbanded female and banded male (788-49033), named Duke. He was banded in 2006 as a nestling at Sedge Island (to the north of Barnegat Light), which is the most densely populated colony of nesting ospreys in New Jersey. Both first occupied this nest in 2018 and were together until fall migration in 2020. That year the pair produced three young.

In 2021, the previous female did not return and she was replaced by a new female, named Daisy by viewers. They raised two young in 2021 & 2022. In 2023, Duke and Daisy reunited and produced three young, but only one survived to fledge. Last year, Daisy did not lay any eggs, despite many successful copulation attempts by Duke and there being plentiful prey.

In 2025, Duke returned and is 19 years old! Unfortunately, his previous mate, Daisy did not return. After several weeks of drama at the nest this spring, he formed a new pair bond with an unbanded female. Viewers voted and chose a name for her, Dixie. She laid three eggs in early May which were only incubated for a week before a nor'easter impacted the area, causing Duke to have trouble finding prey. He was missing for 67 hours before returning to find that two of their eggs were predated by a herring gull and the remaining egg would not hatch. Prey availability this year has been scarce this year for ospreys, so many nests have been suffered the same fate and D+D. Atlantic menhaden are not plentiful this year off the coast of New Jersey following the nor'easter in May and after large commercial reduction fisheries boats harvested menhaden offshore in June. Preliminary results showed that ospreys faced widespread nest failure rates, greater than 50% of all known active nests, which is due to food stress in the coastal population. It seems that no one knows what is happening with menhaden, but it is clear the health of the fishery is not well when ospreys are starving all along the coast of New Jersey.

Nest updates are posted to our website: www.conservewildlifenj.org/ospreycam

Live Chat and Comment Moderation Policy: https://conservewildlifenj.org/resour...

Report Prey Deliveries [2025]: https://forms.gle/9ZwAqKDuk73Y1vUS7

This camera is made possible with funding from the Osprey Foundation and donations from viewers, like you! Thank you!! Learn more about our work to monitor and manage ospreys in New Jersey: https://conservewildlifenj.org/projec...