HUNTINGTOWN, MD– It’s the best of both worlds, being able to observe nature without having to be out in nature.
The first CHESPAX live Osprey Cam went live with an official project launch May 4 at the Tom Wisner Hall at Kings Landing Park in Huntingtown.
Funded by the Cove Point Natural Heritage Trust and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the camera program will be receiving technical support from Calvert County Natural Resources Division and Calvert County Public Schools.
Students in Calvert County, and anyone with an Internet connection, now have a ‘bird’s eye view’ of an iconic Chesapeake Bay species, said Tom Harten, CHESPAX Environmental Educator.
“Using a remote webcam focused on a nesting pair of ospreys, anyone will be able to observe the daily activities of these birds,” said Harten. “They’ll get to watch them as the osprey pair hunt for fish along the Patuxent River and raise their offspring in a man-made nesting platform in a marsh near the park.”
There are plans to incorporate the live camera into the seventh grade Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) program. Students participate in the program by collecting SAV samples and help the United States Fish and Wildlife Service monitor the SAV at Cocktown Creek.
With participation in the CHESPAX SAV Monitoring Project, students satisfy a portion of their Student Service Learning requirement for graduation, said Harten.
“The students have the opportunity to come to the park and canoe down the creek. They’ll collect samples of organisms in the rivers,” said Harten. “With this program, we hope students will understand that in nature we are all connected. When the osprey population was affected by the use of DDT and other pesticides, it was because the fish they consumed had accumulated poison from the mosquitoes they had eaten. The poison had thinned the ospreys’ egg shells and decimated the osprey population.”
The program serves as a bridge between the digital world that students are accustomed to and the natural environment around them, said Harten.
“When the students come out to the park and experience this environment, some will have never been out on the water like this before,” said Harton. “Now they can follow the progress of the osprey nesting season in their classroom on tablets or from any device with an internet connection.”
The webcam is also accessible with this QR code:
For more information about the live webcam, contact Tom Harten at hartent@calvertnet.k12.md.us
Jacqui Atkielski can be contacted at j.atkielski@thebaynet.com
