Land & Conservation

Must-See Osprey TV

Two raptors—and their eggs—maintain a mesmerizing perch on the Georgia coast

Photo: @LandSavEagleCam

A still image taken from the video feed of the ospreys' nest.

If HGTV and National Geographic co-produced a reality show, it might look like The Landings Bird Cam, the impossibly addictive live feeds of two ospreys that have taken up residence in a waterfront nest high above The Landings on Skidaway Island, an Audubon-certified sustainable community near Savannah, Georgia. Locals have named the birds “Mr. and Mrs. O” and are now waiting patiently for the April arrival of little Os, since three eggs were recently spotted in the nest.

Watch for yourself. Here’s the view from one camera:

And the view from another:

Sometimes called fish hawks or a sea hawks, ospreys are among the largest raptors in North America, with wingspans that can reach close to six feet. They eat almost exclusively fish and tend to nest as couples to raise their young, just as the pair has done on Skidaway.

Along with the remote-control cameras that provide the live feeds, two Twitter accounts (@SavannahNest and @LandSavEagleCam) and a Facebook page are documenting the Os’ comings and goings. The current birds are not the first to occupy the nest—a pair of great horned owls raised owlets there in 2015 and 2016. It’s taken a village to film the nest, including help from Skidaway Audubon, Ogeechee Audubon, the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, and even the local fire department’s ladder truck. The result is a birder’s dream and a desk dweller’s daily escape.


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