Ospreys return to Grand Lake, lay a solitary egg on livestream
Live camera feed online again after temporary breakdown
Kent Roorda/Courtesy photo
Kent Roorda, custodian of the Grand Lake osprey livestream camera, has good news — the osprey couple that returns to their nest each spring have a new egg.
The mom laid the new egg on May 8.
“There are literally thousands of people who watch the Ospreys and learn about their behaviors,” he stated in an email. “I have been told that many schools use the video to teach children about the Ospreys.”
Despite some brief setbacks, including a hospital stay and internet provider changes that downed the camera feed in April, Roorda was able to bring the live footage back just in time for viewers to watch the osprey return to their warm weather homes.
“In Kremmling, a nursing home uses the video to interest, entertain, and teach many of their residents who are glued to the video throughout the season,” Roorda wrote. “It is very gratifying to me to be able to share this with everyone and your help literally extends my efforts.”
Roorda shared some interesting facts about egg-laying season for ospreys in an email to Sky-Hi News on May 8.
“When the egg(s) are laid, they come out all-white. However, as time (a few days) passes, the egg begins to take on a camouflaged appearance with brownish colors and markings. This greatly helps in preventing predators from seeing and trying to take the eggs.”
“Normally, one would think that the actual eggshell is not a living material,” he continues. “However, the fact that it changes color after it is laid clearly indicates that there is life in the shell itself!”
“It is interesting to observe all the little things that evolution and nature do to protect and insure the survival of all the animals around us,” Roorda notes. “Camouflaging the eggs and the eventual chicks is one of those very important things.”
Check out the live osprey cam 24 hours a day at skyhinews.com/grand-lake-osprey-camera.
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Kent Roorda, custodian of the osprey camera in Grand Lake, said that he’s received questions from viewers asking how he can tell that the same osprey are returning to the nest every year.
Kent Roorda/Courtesy photo
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The unique marking on this osprey’s head is used to identify it, which is how Roorda knows it is the same bird who has been nesting in Grand Lake for nine years now.
Kent Roorda/Courtesy photo
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The marking on the back of this osprey’s head affirms that this is the same bird as previous years.
Kent Roorda/Courtesy photo
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