Boulder County Fairgrounds has hosted an osprey nest camera since 2016, with residents able to watch every move of the resident birds on a popular livestream.
On May 10, the mother osprey and her eggs were exposed to a heavy hailstorm. With no cover to lessen the impact of the hail, the mother and her eggs were in serious danger.
“The quarter-sized, pea-sized hail would have cracked the eggs,” said Jasmine Finks, a web administrator for the osprey camera website.
In the video, the osprey can be seen flinching and breathing heavily as the hail fills the nest. But the mother osprey dutifully kept her eggs safe and endured the storm on her own.
“We were almost at the point where she would protect herself, which would be expected,” Finks said, “but she stuck it out and protected the eggs.”
The heartbreaking yet inspiring video drew many viewers to the live stream and garnered national attention.
“We saw 3.5 times the number of viewers,” said Nik Brockman, a web administrator for Boulder County Parks and Open Space. “The response has been amazing. People love seeing wildlife do incredible things and show determination and resiliency, especially when it is a mother protecting her future offspring.”
“I’m sure they experience all sorts of different weather because they live here in the summer and in South America in the winter,” Finks said.
However, Finks said it is unlikely that the osprey would have endured weather as harsh as hail if not for her eggs.
The past three years have been difficult for the female osprey, with her chicks dying in 2020 and her eggs failing to hatch in 2021 and 2022. But despite all the weather challenges, nest watchers can still hope for new chicks.
“The hail wouldn’t affect hatching,” said Finks.
