Unfortunately the osprey webcam is not operating in 2008. However, you can download and view clips from the nest taken in 2007.

Ospreys are just one many species that benefit from the wide range of conservation and enhancement projects delivered each year by the Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program on behalf of its Program Partners BC Hydro, the Ministry of Environment and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Please find out more about our work at www.fwcp.ca or subscribe to one of our free newsletters.

Please view these recorded highlight video clips from the Osprey nest. The clips require Quicktime (download here).

• Osprey in nest
• First chick
• Feeding chicks ten days old
• Adult feeding
• Adults calling
• Arriving with live fish
• Chicks seek shade
• Feeding chicks 2
• Feeding chicks 3
• Feeding chicks 4
• Feeding chicks 5
• Raucous arrival with fish

This Osprey nest webcam was a partnership between FWCP, the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area (CVWMA) and the Creston Public Library with technical support from Kootenay Wireless. You can help support this project by purchasing longer, downloadable video clips from the CVWMA website.

Osprey Facts

• Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) return to the same nest, made of sticks, often located on man-made elevated structures such as power poles, buoys and bridges as well as cliffs and snags.
• The female lays between two to four eggs, one to five days apart. The eggs are incubated for 35 to 40 days.
• The diet of an Osprey consists nearly entirely of live fish so the Fertilization Program in Kootenay Lake that has helped boost kokanee numbers is playing an important role in supporting the local population.
• Ospreys can become completely submerged when diving for fish and still take off with their prey, unlike Bald Eagles which pluck the fish from the surface.
• There have been reports of Ospreys drowning after locking into a fish that is too big and strong to bring to the surface.
• Ospreys were once threatened around the world primarily due to the use of DDT and other pesticides, but their numbers have rebounded in recent decades.
• They are the most widely distributed bird of prey, found on all continents except Antarctica.
• Ospreys in the Columbia Basin usually migrate in winter to the southern United States or Mexico.
• Ospreys are unique in that they have an opposable toe that can face forward or backward. When sitting on a branch it usually has three toes on the front and one on the back. When holding a fish it usually has two toes on each side of the fish. When flying with its prey the Osprey invariably flies with the fish head first to reduce wind resistance.