osprey couple eating food

Osprey at Cape Henlopen


Welcome to the Osprey Cam at Cape Henlopen State Park

Our Osprey Cam is up and running for another season. The nest is located atop one of the SPI Pharma solis just outside of the park. Visit the Osprey Cam on the Friends of Cape Henlopen homepage

Our Mating Pair

The pair should be on and off the nest until the middle of April, when the female begins to lay and incubate her eggs. The male will then be stopping at the nest off and on to deliver fish to the female for most of the spring.

osprey pair eating food

Watch for Chicks!

Look for the chicks to hatch in late May or early June. Watch the chicks grow all summer until late July, when they will fledge (start to fly). The young will still stay close to the nest, waiting for fish from the adults, until the adults migrate south. The young will begin their own migration shortly afterward; by early September, the nest will be empty again.

Young birds will have light speckling on their wings, whereas adults are all brown.

2018 Nest Success

In 2018, all three eggs hatched, and the chicks fledged. By early September they all left the nest, and we hope made a successful migration south. This marks three successful breeding seasons for the current pair using the osprey cam nest.

osprey fledgling

Osprey Migration

Curious about where our east coast osprey go when the leave at the end of the summer? Visit Dr. Rob Bierregaard’s Osprey Trax website to view the migration patterns of birds fitted with satellite transmitters.

http://www.ospreytrax.com/OspreyMainPage.html