Osprey Cam
The Ospreys are back and so is the Osprey Cam! Milford Point’s Ospreys arrived at the nest platform on March 18, 2025. Two months’ later, on May 20, the first signs of success: the male brought food and the parents fed at least one nestling. That was the first time confirming at least one has hatched. Two days later, on May 23, we got our first view of three hatchlings.
We’re all looking forward to watching them successfully raise a family! Click the video to enlarge it. If the video isn’t playing, refresh your browser.
Your donation helps protect Connecticut's Ospreys and other birds. Click HERE. Thank you!
Ospreys are both a success story and a cautionary story. Their history over the last 75 years shows how devastating insecticides can be to birds, and also how, with time and human effort, bird populations can rebound. The lesson the Osprey story teaches is that preventing the disaster is better than reversing it.
Ospreys were among the species hardest hit by DDT in the middle of the 20th century. Widely sprayed to control mosquitoes, DDT accumulated in fish. Ospreys of course eat only fish. DDT interfered with the birds’ ability to lay eggs that had shells thick enough to withstand incubation. Eggs broke in the nest and didn’t hatch — an obvious recipe for population disaster.
When DDT was banned, in 1972, the number of Ospreys slowly rebounded. Ospreys are now common and familiar near the state’s coast, rivers, and lakes. In 2024, there were 726 active nests and 1,077 fledglings in the state.
Find out more about Connecticut Audubon's Osprey programs, including how to get involved.
As you’re watching the Osprey Cam, you can start to look for eggs in early April.
Ospreys lay 1 to 4 eggs. The ornithologist Arthur Cleveland Bent, writing almost 90 years ago, called them “. . . the handsomest of all the hawk’s eggs . . . considerable variation . . . coloring very rich,” according to the Cornell Lab Of Ornithology’s Birds of the World, which described the eggs as, “Ground color creamy white to pinkish cinnamon; usually heavily wreathed and spotted with reddish browns, especially larger end. Surface smooth but not glossy.”
The eggs begin to hatch after roughly 36 to 42 days, and it takes another 50 to 55 days for the birds to begin to leave the nest.
You can learn more about Connecticut Audubon’s Osprey Nation program here.
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It’s interesting to see that the nest is still having sticks added to the perimeter. Looking durable for next spring.
Looking forward to our visit in October.
Wow I just watched the baby come back with a fish, at some of it and then the mom bird came back and they fought over the fish a little bit and the mom ended up getting the fish!
We have watched the camera all season from California and it has been wonderful. We have great admiration for the parents; if only all human parents were so dedicated and responsible! Thank you for providing this camera. We could not find the sound symbol today–is the sound function still working?
Wonderful success 🙌 this year im so happy their journey will continue on to be big strong ospreys just like their magnificent parents ❤️ thank you so much for this camera and all the other things you all do
Did all 3 make it? I have only seen 2 of the fledglings….
Hi – has one of the fledglings departed? I’m assuming the fledglings have the speckled backs, but have only seen the 2 these past few days. I think the mother has no speckles on her back feathers.
Thanks
Are all 3 fledglings still around? I see 2 parents and 2 youths.
Hi
It looks like Camera shifted left and zoom function kicked it.
Any way to reset it remotely?
I could be wrong.
Thanks
I see two chicks what happened the 3rd chick
Did the camera move? It looks like a different angle on the nest and birds.
Such amazing creatures. So happy to see the beginning stages of life for them from laying inn eggs, eggs hatching, feedings, learning to felt and leaving the nest. What a remarkable journey. So grateful for the nest camera. Many thanks to the Audubon for sharing this with us.
So enjoying our Ospreys. Have you moved the cameram more to the left? Thank you.
Is there one less osprey ?
Osprey nest possibly with chicks. On top of phone pole quarter mile from Connecticut River on Eastern Drive, Middletown.
Osprey cam is back!
Its been a wonderful journey watching this family this year ❤️
Is there any update on fixing the camera?
I hope you are able to fix it soon. I miss watching the Ospreys from work. Good Luck and Thank you.
Any updates re camera!?
Thanks for trying to repair the camera.
It has been so exciting and educational watching the 3 youngsters from egg to fledge!
We are working on fixing the camera