Watch amazing, live footage of osprey from their own vantage point as they nest on a platform 40 feet above the countryside near Annandale. To view the web cam, click on the photo at right and you will be prompted to type in a user name and password as shown below.
User name: osprey Password: osprey
If you have any problems accessing the osprey cam, please send us an e-mail.
By most accounts, Oscar and Olive Osprey are your typical American family. They like to eat out, frequently enjoy nearby lakes and experience the daily pleasures and hassles of raising their children.
There is just one small difference…Oscar and Olive aren’t humans, they’re osprey; a specially protected raptor in Minnesota that is making a comeback in Wright-Hennepin's service territory, specifically in the forest and fields stretching from near Monticello to west of Annandale. And now anyone can watch the daily triumphs and struggles of these raptor
24 hours a day.
What's new? Oscar and Olive were sighted the week of April 7. Check back and visit them over the next several weeks. What is Wright-Hennepin's osprey camera?
The purpose of the osprey cam is to bring live footage of this native and threatened species into the homes of residents. W-H crews installed the camera in April, 2007, being careful not to disturb the osprey.
W-H has an active history of helping osprey regain a foothold in its service area. In 1998, the co-op built its first of several nesting platforms for osprey with the support of wildlife officials and has annually participated with Three Rivers Park District in an osprey tracking (banding) project since 2000.
Every summer, W-H bucket trucks are used to access the nests or linemen use their pole climbing gear to bring the osprey chicks down for banding. In fact, the tracking project might not even be in Wright County if it weren’t for the keen eyes of W-H linemen, and cooperative member Lisa Peery of Annandale, who began noticing osprey nests in the 1990s. Now, state naturalists have identified at least five nests in Wright County.
“We had seen a few nests. We knew they were in the area,” recalls Stan Meyer, W-H lead foreman.
Building alternative nesting sites for this bird of “special concern” is important since they sometimes build nests five to six feet wide on poles supporting live power lines. This causes problems for ospreys and utilities because nesting material can contact the lines, causing fires and outages.
Did you Know? Ospreys can fly at speeds of about 40 miles an hour.
