LONGMONT, Colo. — A female osprey has returned to her nest at the Boulder County Fairgrounds and you can watch her live all summer.
Boulder County Open Space set up a live streaming camera over an osprey nest at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont where a pair of the birds have been returning since 2003.
Osprey, also called sea hawks, are large raptors that eat almost exclusively fish and generally nest near a body of water.
Each September or October, osprey migrate to Central or South America. The male and female osprey separate during the winter but generally come back together to the same nesting site every spring and summer.
This year, the female osprey returned to the nest on March 22, according to the county. The male has not returned, but the county says in the past he has usually come back to Longmont between March 19 and March 30 so they are not concerned.
The website says the female osprey was attacked by a Great Horned Owl on March 24 and knocked off her perch, but she later returned to the nest and appeared to be OK.
This osprey pair first began nesting on a light pole at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in 2003, according to the county's website.
Wildlife biologists moved the nest to a safer location in 2009, the website says.
In 2015, 2016 and 2017 a total of seven baby ospreys were hatched at the nest.
Osprey eggs hatch about 36-42 days after being laid and fledging, or when the wing feathers are developed enough for flight, occurs 50-55 days after hatching.