Eagle-eyed fans glued to live webcam to watch osprey eggs hatch
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An osprey returns to its nest with a fish in its talons on Little Hunting Creek off the Potomac River near Mt. Vernon, Va., May 23, 2013. (REUTERS)
This is becoming one egg-cellent adventure.
A pair of osprey waiting for three eggs to hatch is now a main attraction after a local man set up a live osprey webcam to welcome the new arrivals.
The story begins with Tommy Aprea, who saw osprey constantly landing on an old 80-foot radio tower on his Long Island, N.Y., property, and decided the birds needed a better landing pad.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK TO WATCH THE LIVE OSPREY WEBCAM.
“Every morning I’d come out, there would be an osprey standing at the top, holding on, screeching when I take the garbage out,” Aprea told CBS New York.
"It's just amazing."
So, Aprea hired a welder to build a platform on the tower and, in a case of “if you build it, they will come,” the birds – named George and Gracie -- began to build their nest. Three eggs followed.
Aprea’s Greenport neighbor, Paul Henry, set up the webcam, and now the ospreys have fans that include homebound seniors and schoolchildren who are studying the birds.
“It’s on 24-7 on my computer. I hear a screech and I run to see what’s happening. He’s either bringing her a fish or he’s swapping with her to sit on the eggs, it’s just amazing,” said Aprea, according to the station.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I’ve had an interest in ospreys for a long time. Our local osprey population has come back from near extinction,” added Henry, a property tax consultant.
Now, the feather-loving fan base has grown to include hundreds of people who are checking in with the webcam every day, waiting for the osprey eggs to hatch.
The first egg is expected to hatch this week. The other two should hatch shortly after.
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