Barnegat Light Osprey Webcam – See a Jersey Shore Nest

The Barnegat Light Osprey Webcam is trained on an osprey nest built on a tall, man-made platform beside a secluded cove on Barnegat Bay, at the northern tip of Long Beach Island in New Jersey. Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey installed the camera for the 2019 nesting season, and each year since it has followed the whole cycle on the platform: nest building and repairs, courtship, egg laying, incubation, adults arriving with fish for the chicks and, at the end of summer, the young birds leaving the nest. Ospreys spend the winter far to the south, so this is a seasonal camera. It is run for the nesting season, and between fall migration and the birds’ return in late March or early April the player can show an empty platform or no picture at all. The feed comes back when the ospreys do, without anything needing to be reloaded here.

About the Barnegat Light Osprey Nest

Barnegat Light is a small borough of 640 residents at the 2020 census, covering 3.1 square kilometers (1.2 square miles) at the north end of the island, much of it only about 1 meter (3 feet) above sea level. It began as Barnegat City, broke away from Long Beach Township in 1904 and took its present name in 1948 in honor of the lighthouse. The osprey platform stands on the bay side of the borough, over the sheltered water that separates Long Beach Island from the mainland.

The nest has an unusually well documented history. A banded male named Duke and an unbanded female first took it over in 2018. Duke was banded as a nestling in 2006 on Sedge Island, just north of Barnegat Light, which holds the most densely populated osprey colony in New Jersey. The pair raised two young in 2019, the camera’s first season, and three in 2020, and stayed together until that year’s fall migration. A new and inexperienced female named Daisy took the old female’s place in 2021, and the pair still raised two chicks. By April 2022 Duke was nearly 16 years old, and his return to the platform that spring made the local paper, The SandPaper.

The nest is one small part of a statewide count. In 2025 Conserve Wildlife Foundation monitored 689 osprey nests across New Jersey. Of the 507 active nests it assessed, 288, or 57 percent, raised no young at all, and the state produced only 352 chicks, an average of 0.69 per active nest. The foundation ties the poor year to a shortage of Atlantic menhaden, the osprey’s main prey, in nearshore waters. The same team runs Project RedBand, which fits young ospreys in the Barnegat Bay watershed with red anodized aluminum bands, and the camera is paid for by the Osprey Foundation and by donations from viewers.

Weather and Climate in Barnegat Light

Barnegat Light has a humid subtropical climate, softened by the Atlantic on one side of the island and the bay on the other. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 28 C (83 F) and lows around 20 C (69 F), and nearshore ocean water reaches about 21 C (69 F), going by readings taken at nearby Atlantic City. Summer is when the chicks are in the nest, so bright sun on the platform and passing thunderstorms over the bay are both part of the picture.

Winter on the island is cold and raw. January averages a high of 5 C (41 F) and a low of minus 3 C (27 F), and the ocean drops to about 4 C (40 F). By then the ospreys are wintering in Florida and farther south, and the platform sits empty. The first birds of the year usually reach New Jersey in late March, when the bay is still cold, and Duke’s return in early April 2022 fits that pattern. Fall is the season of departures, when adults and juveniles leave on migration.

Things to Do Near Barnegat Light

Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, established in 1951, covers the northern tip of the island where Barnegat Bay meets the Atlantic at Barnegat Inlet. Its lighthouse stands 52 meters (172 feet) tall and was built between 1857 and 1859 to replace an earlier light from 1834. You can climb 217 steps to the gallery for a view over the inlet, the ocean and the bay where the ospreys fish.

On Bayview Avenue, Viking Village is a working commercial fishing dock founded in the 1920s by Scandinavian fishermen. It began as the Independent Fish Company and was later renamed for its Norwegian founders, and today it mixes fresh seafood with small shops selling handcrafted goods. Birders can look north across the inlet toward Sedge Island, the colony where Duke hatched.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

For more nest cams and more of the New Jersey coast, try these.

• Duke Farms Eagle Webcam
• Old Saybrook Osprey Webcam
• Ocean City NJ Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Barnegat Light osprey cam located?

The nest is in the borough of Barnegat Light, at the northern tip of Long Beach Island in Ocean County, New Jersey. The platform stands beside a secluded cove on the Barnegat Bay side of the island.

What can you see on the Barnegat Light Osprey Webcam?

The camera looks at a single osprey nest on a tall platform. In season it can show the adults rebuilding the nest, courtship, eggs being laid and incubated, fish deliveries to the chicks and the young birds preparing to fly.

Why is the Barnegat Light Osprey Webcam not showing any birds right now?

Ospreys migrate. After the young can fly, the whole family leaves New Jersey for the winter, heading to Florida and farther south, so from fall until spring the nest is normally empty and the stream can be paused. The feed returns when the birds come back in late March or early April, without anything needing to be reloaded.

When do ospreys return to Barnegat Light?

Ospreys start arriving in New Jersey in late March. At Barnegat Light the resident male, Duke, was back on the platform in early April in 2022, and the current season’s stream began on 2 April 2026.

Who is Duke the osprey?

Duke is the banded male who took over the nest with his first mate in 2018. He was banded as a nestling on Sedge Island in 2006, which made him nearly 16 years old when he returned in the spring of 2022.

What is the weather like in Barnegat Light?

Summers are warm, with July highs around 28 C (83 F), and winters are cold, with January lows around minus 3 C (27 F). The climate is humid subtropical, moderated by the ocean and the bay.

Who runs the Barnegat Light osprey camera?

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey runs the camera as part of its New Jersey Osprey Project, with funding from the Osprey Foundation and viewer donations.

Source: Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey