Dramatic video shows owl attacking osprey in Moraine State Park nest
PORTERSVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) -- Dramatic video shows a great horned owl attacking an osprey at Moraine State Park in Butler County.
Video from PixCams, which runs the nest's livestream camera, captured the moment the owl slammed into the female osprey, knocking her out of the nest.
The mamma bird is back in the nest now, though she didn't return until morning, PixCams said. It's unclear how her two eggs are doing.
Dramatic video of great horned owl attacking osprey nest!Last night a great horned owl attacked the female osprey on the Moraine Preservation Fund Osprey Camera located at Moraine State Park in Butler County, PA. She is back on the nest this morning but we do not know the state of the eggs. Watch the cam live here: https://pixcams.com/moraine-osprey-cam/ #osprey #owl #attack #livestream
Posted by PixCams on Wednesday, May 15, 2024
The National Audubon Society says great horned owls are aggressive and powerful hunters. Last June, a great horned owl attack on the osprey nest that was so grisly, PixCams had to put a "graphic" warning on its videos. The owl ate three young ospreys, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
The camera at Moraine State Park shows ospreys nesting along the Lake Arthur shoreline. The Moraine Preservation Fund says the area has one of the most significant clusters of osprey nests in Pennsylvania.
The Moraine Preservation Fund established an osprey reintroduction program in June 1993. The program started with six ospreys from the Chesapeake Bay area and grew into nearly 100 in just four years. Volunteers hand-fed the ospreys until they were strong enough to take flight and migrate to South America, with the hopes they would return to reproduce and repopulate the area.
People can keep an eye on the mamma osprey and her eggs on the livestream. This year viewers are watching through a new high-quality camera.