Quick Facts

• Where: USA, Black Water Refuge
• What: Osprey and Variety
• When: March to December
• Cam: 30s Refresh

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is located near the city of Cambridge, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the United States. The Osprey Cam and Eagle Cam are projects of the http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/ a nonprofit citizens support group founded in 1987, which assists the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff in carrying out their educational, interpretive, and public use missions at the refuge. The Friends of Blackwater is composed solely of volunteers with no paid staff. Individuals can support the Friends by becoming a member, making a donation, or purchasing items from the Visitor Center store or from the online store. All proceeds from sales go towards supporting projects such as the online raptor cams.

Best Pictures

Picture of cam location

Location and subject
Since 2001, the Friends of Blackwater have been broadcasting live images from a camera located on a man-made Osprey platform at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The platform is approximately 35-feet tall and is situated alongside the Blackwater River, which is where the ospreys fish for their meals. Behind the Osprey Cam (and visible on the cam image) is the refuge Visitor Center where visitors can watch live video from the Osprey Cam.

When to view
The ospreys are migratory raptors and nest at the platform from March through September; however, the Friends keep the cam running throughout the fall and winter – even after the ospreys have migrated south – because a large variety of interesting birds use the platform as a riverside perch. The cam runs daily from 3am until 11pm, U.S. Eastern Time, and the images are normally refreshed at 30-second intervals. The camera on the osprey platform has infrared – or night-vision – technology, so the birds are visible even after dark, but the daylight hours see the most action. In addition to the Osprey Cam, the Friends also keep an Osprey Cam Gallery and Osprey Cam Web Log, which is a written journal that follows the cam events.