Blackbush Osprey Webcam – Nest on PEI’s North Shore

The Blackbush Osprey Webcam looks down into an osprey nest at Blackbush Beach Resort in Grand Tracadie, on the north shore of Prince Edward Island. From above, the nest is a wide bowl of dark sticks and pale, weathered branches on a wooden platform, with a post rising at its back edge and grass far below. From spring into late summer a pair of ospreys uses it to raise chicks on fish carried in from the shallow north shore waters, and the young birds take their first flights from its rim. The ospreys migrate south for the winter, so from about September until spring the nest sits empty.

About the Blackbush Osprey Nest

The platform went up in July 2020 beside a summer cottage at Old Tracadie Harbour, through a program offered by Maritime Electric. According to CBC News, ospreys started building a nest on it four or five minutes after the heavy equipment left, and the camera was installed near the end of that September, once the birds had gone. The pair has come back every year since, raising two chicks in 2021 and again in 2022, three in 2023 and another three in 2024. The same family has built two more nests in nearby trees, and one adult usually keeps watch from a perch close to the platform. The date and time stamp was added so that researchers following the feed can log when the chicks are fed, when they start to fly and when they leave.

In 2022 the ospreys headed south just two days before post-tropical storm Fiona, which blew the nest off the platform. The next spring they arrived in mid-May, which the platform’s owner says is generally when they come, and the two birds rebuilt the nest within moments of landing. Across the Island, ospreys usually return around mid-April and leave toward the end of August or the beginning of September, wintering anywhere from Florida to Brazil. That is why the Blackbush Osprey Webcam shows an empty nest through the fall and winter, and why the busiest months on camera run from late spring through August.

Blackbush Beach Resort stands at the water’s edge at Old Tracadie Harbour, looking toward the dunes of Blackbush Island. It includes The Hotel Acadia, a five-floor, 30-room hotel that opened in 2024, and The Commons, a group of beach cottages that sleep up to six. Its restaurant, Fin Folk Food, was built on the site of the old Grand Tracadie fish factory and shows the osprey feed on a big screen. The hotel’s name has local history: an earlier Hotel Acadia opened in Grand Tracadie in the spring of 1894 and burned down on August 6, 1906. Grand Tracadie had 293 residents at the 2011 census and became part of the Rural Municipality of North Shore on September 28, 2018.

Weather and Climate in Grand Tracadie

Grand Tracadie shares the climate of Charlottetown, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) to the south-southwest: humid continental, moderated by the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Summer, the season the ospreys spend on the nest, is mild. July highs average 23.6 C (74.5 F) with lows of 14.4 C (57.9 F), and August is almost the same at 23.3 C (73.9 F). In those weeks the chicks can grow from small heads barely showing above the rim to young birds standing on the edge, testing the wind.

Winters are cold and snowy. January averages a high of minus 3.0 C (26.6 F) and a low of minus 11.5 C (11.3 F), and Charlottetown records about 285 centimeters (112 inches) of snow a year, so snow can cover the empty platform for long stretches. Autumn storms can be severe, as Fiona showed in 2022, and the resort notes that the ospreys rebuild their nest each spring when they return.

Things to Do Near Grand Tracadie

Around the resort itself, Fin Folk Food serves seafood, and The Old Harbour Shops and Tracadie Beach are a short walk away. Prince Edward Island National Park, established in 1937 and covering 27 square kilometers (10 square miles), takes in part of Grand Tracadie. Its protected beaches are nesting habitat for the endangered piping plover, and Parks Canada has installed many osprey nesting platforms across the park, so other nests are easy to spot in summer.

Dalvay-by-the-Sea, a Victorian-era mansion now run as an inn within the national park, is about 2.6 kilometers (1.6 miles) west of the resort, and Stanhope Beach lies about 5 kilometers (3 miles) west. The park grew in 1998, when the sand dune system at Greenwich, farther east, was transferred from the province to Parks Canada. The resort puts Charlottetown Airport about 15 minutes away by road.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More live views from Prince Edward Island and another osprey nest on the Atlantic coast:

• Charlottetown Webcam
• Confederation Bridge Webcam
• Barnegat Light Osprey Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Blackbush osprey nest located?

The nest is at Blackbush Beach Resort, 20 Carrie Me Way in Grand Tracadie, at Old Tracadie Harbour on the north shore of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is in Queens County, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north-northeast of Charlottetown.

What can you see on the Blackbush Osprey Webcam?

A view looking down into the stick nest on its platform, with a wooden post at the back and grass below. From spring to late summer it shows the osprey pair, their chicks and the fish the adults bring in. In fall and winter the nest is empty. The camera does not show the harbour or the beach.

When do the ospreys come back to the Blackbush nest?

In spring. The platform’s owner told CBC News in 2024 that the pair generally arrives in mid-May, and across Prince Edward Island ospreys usually return around mid-April. They leave toward the end of August or the beginning of September.

Why is the Blackbush osprey nest empty?

Because the ospreys have migrated. They spend the winter far to the south, anywhere from Florida to Brazil, and the feed keeps running on the empty nest until they return the following spring.

How many chicks have hatched at the Blackbush osprey nest?

CBC News reported two chicks in 2021 and 2022, three in 2023 and three more in 2024, all raised by the same pair that has used the platform since it was built in 2020.

What is the weather like in Grand Tracadie?

Mild in summer, with July highs around 23.6 C (74.5 F), and cold and snowy in winter, with January highs around minus 3.0 C (26.6 F) and about 285 centimeters (112 inches) of snow a year at nearby Charlottetown.

Are ospreys common on Prince Edward Island?

Yes. A provincial wildlife biologist told CBC News in 2024 that the Island’s osprey population is doing well, and the species is listed as secure by the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre. Nesting platforms built by residents, watershed groups and Parks Canada have made the birds easier to see.

Source: Blackbush Beach Resort