ESSEX — Osprey nesting season has begun in Essex County.
Since late March, when the Essex County Greenbelt Association’s Osprey Program received the first reported sighting in the county, osprey pairs have been returning to nest sites from Salisbury to Boxford to East Boston, and many are already incubating eggs.
Greenbelt reports that its live-streaming OspreyCam, located in Gloucester, on salt marsh near LobstaLand Restaurant, can be viewed on its website. The nesting pair, which has been present on this nest since 2017 but laid eggs for the first time in 2019, returned in early April. The OspreyCam is reacquainting many of us with Annie and Squam, as they were named last year, and their one chick named River.
“We are so excited to have this active Osprey nest live-streamed each day to our website for our members and the general public to view. It’s great fun to watch the nesting season drama unfold” said Greenbelt president Kate Bowditch.
“It is always a thrill to see these majestic raptors return to our region each spring,” said Dave Rimmer, Greenbelt’s osprey program director. Already in 2020, some 25-to-30 dedicated volunteer citizen scientists have been busy, rain or shine, watching close to 50 nesting pairs and have submitted more than 400 online nesting activity reports
To watch the live Ospreycam and view a virtual history of Greenbelt’s Osprey Program, visit https://ecga.org/Osprey-Program.