Take a break from Covid-19 — watch an osprey go about its day

PSEG Long Island has installed two webcams to offer a peek into the daily lives of local ospreys. 

Employees work throughout the year to balance PSEG Long Island’s commitment to deliver power for its customers with its commitment to being a good environmental steward, utility officials said. Providing a safe nesting area for the osprey away from vital electrical infrastructure helps PSEG Long Island maintain strong electric service reliability.  

Ospreys often use utility poles and transmission structures for nesting, which jeopardizes system reliability, causes outages and equipment.

“The osprey have made a triumphant comeback here since the 1970s, and PSEG Long Island works to make sure that they can continue to flourish,” said Dan Eichhorn, president and CEO of PSEG Long Island. “Especially now, with so many of us remaining inside our homes for the sake of public health, these webcams offer a much-needed front-row seat to the comings and goings of these majestic birds.”

PSEG Long Island has installed 24-hour webcams at two of the nests that were relocated by line workers during the time of year when the birds are not raising young. 

The first shows a live feed of a nest in Oyster Bay; a second webcam has gone live from a nest in Patchogue. At the Oyster Bay location, the osprey pair returned late last month.

Since the resurgence of the osprey population, PSEG Long Island and its team, with the guidance and support from environmental partners, have identified best practices for when to move a nest, and when to create alternative safer nest locations for the ospreys, utility officials said. 

PSEG Long Island workers have relocated two-dozen osprey nests to ensure the birds are out of harm’s way from high voltage systems.  

View the cameras online at https://www.psegliny.com/wildlife/ospreycam.