{"id":725626,"date":"2026-06-09T17:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725626\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T17:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:54:10","slug":"osprey-cam-streams-life-of-nesting-seabirds-perched-at-tip-of-55-metre-long-queensland-rainforest-canopy-crane-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725626\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Osprey cam\u2019 streams life of nesting seabirds perched at tip of 55 metre-long Queensland rainforest canopy crane | Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

It started by chance \u2013 but it should have come as no surprise that two ospreys would pick a hi-tech research facility to make their home.<\/p>\n

James Cook University\u2019s 47-metre tall crane towers over the far-north Queensland<\/a> rainforest canopy, making it the perfect nesting place for the seabird.<\/p>\n

Year in, year out, the birds return to nest, regardless of the spot\u2019s challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crane is constantly moving,\u201d the station manager of the university\u2019s Daintree Rainforest Observatory, Johan Larson, said.<\/p>\n

The jib of the crane is 55 metres long, meaning the nest can move 110 metres from its last position, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they have no problems finding it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

The canopy crane \u2013 designed to give researchers access to the rainforest from above \u2013 is the centrepiece of the university\u2019s Daintree Rainforest Observatory<\/a>, a field station nestled in lowland rainforest, featuring everything from a lecture theatre to indoor and outdoor laboratories.<\/p>\n

Just a kilometre from the coast, the nest is close enough to the ocean for the birds to make a catch and completely safe from ground-based predators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they haven\u2019t missed a single year for the last 15 years, so I think they really like it,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n

Ospreys live for up to 25 years; researchers at the observatory believe the nest has been consistently inhabited by the same breeding pair.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, someone at the university had the idea of aiming a web camera at the nest.<\/p>\n

\"OspreyOsprey Queensland cinemagraph #3<\/p>\n

Today \u201cOsprey cam<\/a>\u201d livestreams the life cycle of the birds world-wide, a 24\/7 eye-in-the-sky, watching their movements from cradle to grave.<\/p>\n

Larson said nature lovers from around the world tune in to watch the animals build a home, hunt and raise offspring, every year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people in general find it fascinating to be able to watch wild animals live, and it\u2019s very unique to be able to see a nest in particular,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite an online attraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ospreys are small daytime predators that eat almost exclusively fish.<\/p>\n

Unlike their European or American counterparts, Australian ospreys don\u2019t migrate, so the couple live near the crane all year.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, they have to rebuild a nest from scratch each year. Crane maintenance crews clear the remnants of the nest every year \u2013 but even if they didn\u2019t, the birds tend to let their constructions fall apart after raising their young.<\/p>\n

Rebuilding it isn\u2019t a straightforward task, Larson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fascinating to watch them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll bring the first stick on top of the metal structure, and then the wind will catch it and it kind of swivels and then falls through the gap. They take a deep breath, go get another stick, try again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually pretty quick once they get started. It only takes a few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then comes the raising process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are very good parents. They tend to, from what we observe, take turns. The female spends more time on the eggs and more time with the chicks when they hatch, and the male, even though they both hunt, he tends to bring in more of the fish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unheard of for researchers to stumble across fish that have fallen from the sky, dropped by the mum or dad.<\/p>\n

Larson said it\u2019s inevitable that the birds will one day die, and perhaps leave the perfect nesting spot to a new pair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always sad to see an animal die but I guess it is the cycle of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully another pair will take over. It might even be one of their offspring that takes that spot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It started by chance \u2013 but it should have come as no surprise that two ospreys would pick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-725626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}