April 17

It is apparent that Daisy was lost since she departed her home on Long Beach Island in August last year. Unfortunately, there is no way to know what happened to her. With Duke losing his mate, other females have come in to form a bond with him. Duke has also been challenged by another male, 49/M, who we have seen here in the past and on another nearby nest platform. He was banded in 2020 at a natural nest on a sandbar off High Bar Harbor (very close to this nest).

Earlier this week I visited the nest to address an issue that we have with equipment and brought my camera to get some photos of Duke. While I was there for only a short amount of time, I watched Duke perform a “sky dance” or courtship display near his nest. He then landed on his nest and a red banded female (yet to be identified – __/K) came in and landed next to him. Then the other female, who he has been building a pair bond with by mating and providing her with fish, came in — obviously, unhappy!

This drama, along with 49/M dive bombing is unsettling to Duke and his new mate. At this point in April, many established pairs are already incubating the first eggs of the season. Will things settle down so the female can lay? Duke knows his role in their monogamous relationship and this is really key to building their pair bond. There is still time for them to produce a full clutch of eggs.

March 31

Today at 10:06am Duke, the resident male returned! He was identified by his behavior, unique iris and federal band: 788-04933. We were all watching and waiting to see if he would return. It is really amazing to see him return again.

He’s already been settling in by feeding on his perch, arranging sticks, interacting with the new female and resting in the nest bowl. We have witnessed him form a new pair bond with Daisy after his previous mate did not return. We’ll just have to watch and see what plays out. Daisy could still return. If she does, she will force the other female out. If she doesn’t return, we could possibly see other females try to take over the nest as well. April is the time of upside down ospreys, as many new/existing females return to find other females on their nests. Existing nests are premium real estate for ospreys in New Jersey.

March 29

Yesterday an unbanded female osprey landed on the nest. We can tell by her iris, that it was not Daisy.

March 26

Well, I think we’re all getting antsy for the return of Duke + Daisy. Here’s a quick rundown of when they both have previously returned in the last couple years.

Duke: 4/8/2022, 3/28/2023, 3/31/2024 | Daisy: 3/19/2023, 3/16/2024

Some south winds are forecasted for Friday, so hopefully we will see some more ospreys return to the local area.

On another note, a couple of weeks ago we did some maintenance at the osprey cam. The network wire going to the nest pole was re-attached after it came loose and the modem was replaced. Ants made their way into our equipment box after chewing through the silicone seal on the bottom of the weatherproof box. We have to figure out a way to keep them out (traps were set inside the equipment box) b/c they can ruin some of our network equipment..!

February 21

We have had some issues with the live stream lately. This is due to the camera going offline. We are not sure what is happening, but we are visiting the site today to check out hardware and do a hard reset. We will also look at system logs of the camera to try and see if there is any reason for that to fail.

April 9

Since our last update, Duke the nesting male here returned! He returned on March 31 at 4:23pm. Everyone watching could tell he was home. He felt very comfortable and this year had no challengers to fend off. He immediately worked to strengthen his pair bond with his mate, Daisy by providing her with fresh fish.

Since then they both have been working on the nest to spruce it up and copulating. Soon Daisy will lay her first egg. Milestones from last year: Egg 1 – April 22. Egg 2 – April 25. Egg 3 – April 28.

Edit to add: somehow my previous update and footer on this page was deleted and there is no backup.. Time to start backing up. I know I added some more text about Duke and him turning 18 this year.

April 28

By this time last year Daisy had already laid a full clutch of three eggs (first on April 22). It might seem odd that this pair isn't incubating by now as some other pairs have been incubating for a couple weeks. In 2021, Daisy laid her first egg on April 27, so we aren't too far off from previous years. Both birds have been perching on the platform at night, which is nice to see. When Daisy is preparing to lay her first egg, then she will remain close to the nest bowl for extended periods of time. Will Duke encourage her to lay her first egg, like he did in 2021?

May 10

By now, Daisy should be incubating a full clutch of three eggs, like most normal ospreys during this time of year. Something is amiss and we aren't sure what's going on. Both adults came back early and have had plenty of time to mate and spruce up their nest. Duke is old (soon to be 18 years old) but not TOO OLD to still be fertile. Since Daisy is not banded, we don't know her exact age, but she only showed up here in 2020 and when we see banded ospreys begin nesting they're usually less than 10 years old. Ospreys can live for over 20 years and still be productive, like [href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcv5D6R9jn8–]Iris in Montana[/a] or [href=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/22/osprey-webcam–]Lady of the Loch

Even if Duke was not fertile anymore, then Daisy should still lay eggs. They would just not be fertile and hatch young. As far as we know, Daisy appears healthy and is well fed. There is still time for her to lay eggs since we have observed many nests in the middle of summer have hatchling aged young. But, time is not slowing down. We simply have to wait and see what happens. It may be an off year for them and no young will be produced. This will be interesting to observe to see what they do when no young are here to care for. Will Duke stop providing food for Daisy? Will Daisy disperse locally until she migrates south or will both defend their nest? Time will tell.

June 3

This will be my last update for the season, unless something else happens to warrant one. Duke and Daisy continue to hang near their inactive nest. Like mentioned before, we do not know what is happening. We have heard from a few other osprey watchers that they are witnessing the same behavior. Adults present but no eggs or young this year. One pair on Mordecai Island and one on the Mullica River. We hope to learn more during our surveys.

December 4

Atlantic brant are beginning to congregate along the shoreline here in Barnegat Light for the winter months. Coastal waters of New Jersey (and New York) provide essential habitat for brant, where the majority of the population overwinter. As more gather here, we may see some that are banded with auxiliary bands, which is part of a banding and re-sighting project by NJDEP Fish & Wildlife to study the breeding and wintering ecology of brant. By reporting re-sightings of auxiliary banded birds, we can help waterfowl biologists learn more about their life history and the importance of wintering sites like we have here on Barnegat Bay.

September 25

The osprey family from here Barnegat Light has completed their life cycle and started their non-breeding season. This begins with fall migration. Adult females typically leave first. Here we saw Daisy last observed on August 27. North American ospreys (all who are migratory) follow landmasses south. Here along the Atlantic flyway, they fly through Florida and then south over open water to Cuba or the Yucatan Peninsula. There they hopscotch over islands or land to N. South America, where the majority of N. American ospreys overwinter.

Following females are hatch year juveniles and adult males. Here Dorsett was last observed on September 11. We know from re-sightings or encounters of banded birds, that young birds don’t always fly south right away. Many disperse as they hone their foraging skills. We have had banded hatch year ospreys from NJ who were encountered in NY, PA and other parts of NJ before fall migration peaks (for ospreys), which is during the first week of October in Cape May.

Duke, our 17 yr old male, was last seen on Sept 19, which was before Tropical Storm Ophelia hit the area on Sept 23. It is likely that this storm disrupted a lot of migrating birds and we can only hope that many were pushed offshore. Since the storm hit, we have not seen Duke but viewing conditions have not been optimal. We hope to see Duke next year!

Thank you to all who have watched, donated and supported the Barnegat Light Osprey Cam this year! Special thanks our devoted volunteer camera operator and moderators on YouTube! Your contributions help ensure the success of this camera and osprey outreach initiatives in New Jersey!! BW

PS – I would post a couple snapshots but ants infested our network attached storage device, so repairs are needed to access these files.. I also think they are to blame for the intermittent internet outages!

August 8

On July 30, the one osprey produced at this nest fledged. She was banded on June 28 with both a federal bird band and state auxiliary band, as part of Project RedBand, an osprey banding a re-sighting project on Barnegat Bay. 09/N is one of over 500 ospreys who have been banded with red auxiliary bands to learn more about them when alive. So far this season, 30 auxiliary banded ospreys have been re-sighted throughout their range in NJ, with most being breeding birds observed during nest surveys. A full report of all red banded ospreys re-sighted this year will be published in our NJ Osprey Project annual report.

Overall, results from our surveys and data from osprey cams show that they are having a very tough year. With many shortages of food and/or starvation being reported by osprey nest watchers. During many of our surveys, we found many empty nests and some with young had no adults present, which meant that both adults have been spending more time foraging to support their reduced broods. This is the aftermath of a nor’easter that impacted the area in mid-June, which caused adult menhaden to be less abundant. Large scale commercial fishing of menhaden may have also played a factor, especially along the southern extent of the New Jersey coast, where we witnessed widespread brood reduction and many nest failures during our surveys.

Just last week I watched the Forsythe Osprey Cam, which has two fledglings (four young hatched). As one fledgling sat on the nest and awaited an incoming prey delivery from the adult male, the other fledgling came in and attacked its sibling for that prey. Right after that, I watched as the adult male returned several times with very small prey, which was not menhaden but more likely a small freshwater fish species. This too showed the effects of reduced menhaden, which is causing adults to forage more frequently while expending more energy. Thankfully here both adults have not had issues with catching prey, as they have brought in a variety of prey items including black sea bass, bluefish, summer flounder and Atlantic bonito.

Daisy has been doing a lot of foraging as well. This is to help her build up fat reserves for her southbound migration. In the coming weeks, she will begin her migration south. In September young will finally disperse before beginning their migration south. Mated pairs do separate during the non-breeding season and young of the year remain on their wintering grounds for two years. Sorry for the loss of my previous updates this season. It seems that they were removed from the page somehow. There is no backup for content that was posted and not saved, so I hope to write some small snippets of information at the end of the season to have a full summary of the season.

July 10

Well, it appears that my previous updates were deleted somehow and there is no backup.

June 24

The past few days have been difficult to watch for viewers of the BL Osprey Cam. As you’ve seen, the youngest nestling passed away earlier on Friday morning. Then this morning, the second oldest passed away. Both of these losses were the direct result of weather, specifically wind. From late Tuesday through Thursday we had stiff onshore winds. These northeast winds created waves which increased water turbidity and made fish more difficult to catch. Duke had not provided a fish to his mate and brood since Wednesday morning.

Since Thursday evening, Duke has not been seen. Winds out of the NE have moved on, but without a male, who does the majority of foraging it has been very difficult for the young to thrive. The lack of prey has now caused brood reduction. In the species it is quite common to see as availability of their prey varies throughout the region and world. In New Jersey, from this recent weather we have seen brood reduction occur at two other osprey cam nests — Cape May Meadows Osprey Cam lost two of three hatchling age young and the Forsythe NWR Osprey Cam lost two of four young in this same time period.

February 9 – Below was copied from an online archive and pasted back to this page..

Only a month until we get some early spring arrivals of ospreys in New Jersey. Chat on YouTube will be open on February 25-26 from 7am – 8pm each day. Thank you to our volunteer moderators for offering to engage with the public during this time. We are seeking a couple more moderators to help oversee chat this summer. If you are interested, please contact Ben Wurst.

January 30

Shout out to Ben P. and Rory M. w/ Pine Barrens Tree for stopping by the nest to clean out any plastic marine debris!

The countdown to the spring arrival of migratory ospreys has begun! Only ~35 days until ospreys begin arriving back in New Jersey on spring migration, though one has been observed at Lake of the Lilies in Ocean County for several weeks this winter…!

Special thanks to Rory + Ben from Pine Barrens Tree Service for devoting some time and use of their bucket truck to clean out any remnant plastic marine debris from the nest here. Some viewers had asked if we would clean out the dangerous plastics, including white balloon ribbon, plastic film and other plastics that were brought into the nest last summer. Thankfully the guys from PBT were working up in the Barnegat Light area and decided to stop by to clean it out. Thanks so much for their help to ensure that Daisy & Duke return to a safe, clean home.

With that said, from now until April 1 is when we finish any nest maintenance and repairs. This also includes cleaning out excess nesting material, including any and all harmful plastics. Hoping to put together a short video showcasing some of this off season work to engage more volunteers to help do the same to their local nests.

January 3, 2023

Osprey 93/H photographed on 7/26/22 near Loveladies, NJ.

Happy New Year, BL Osprey Cam fans! As I work to finalize osprey survey data and write our report from 2022, I thought I’d share some BL Osprey Cam alumni news. During one of my surveys near LBI last summer, I photographed a red banded osprey in flight. Thankfully the red band was readable, 93/H. This was one of seven red banded ospreys that I re-sighted last summer. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was a young bird that had fledged from the BL Osprey Cam nest (122-B-021) in 2018! This was one of two that were produced at this nest and the first at this location. This was also the year before we upgraded the nest platform and install the camera system.

Osprey 93/H after being banded on July 9, 2018 in Barnegat Light, NJ.

When I looked back at my data and the date banded (July 9, 2018), I then realized that this was the epic day that we filmed footage for the NJ Osprey Project trailer, New Jersey’s Ospreys: A Symbol of a Healthy Coast with Oak Leaf Media, Northside Jim; AC Electric. The banding of 93/H at the future BL Osprey Cam is seen near the end of the video.

This is not the first time that 93/H has been re-sighted either. He was re-sighted after fledging in Barnegat Light in late September. Since he is only 4 years old, he is likely not settled down at a nest yet, but since he is a male, he will be returning to establish a nest in the Barnegat Light area in the future. We will have to keep our eyes peeled for him to make an appearance at the BL Osprey Cam this year. I know I will be looking for him on the bay this spring and summer!

Lastly, you may have seen the live stream stop, start, etc several times today. I am trying to stream at 1080P again for that great HD picture we all love. We have received warnings from Comcast about using too much bandwidth last year, so we decided to reduce resolution of the stream. Well, time to bump it up again and see how things go. We would love to stream at 1080P (or even 4K w/ a new camera) but are not sure if the added internet cost is worth it. Either way, we are always looking for ways to get reduced rates from our ISP!