View Smith Mountain’s Osprey Nest via Webcam!

Since 2004 a nesting platform standing 25 feet tall inside Smith Mountain Lake State Park has been home to an osprey nest. Visitors to the park’s Discovery Center could look at the habitants via a closed circuit TV feed. With the addition of a new webcam, everyone is able to take a peek.

The web feed comes just in time for hatching. Three osprey eggs fill the nest atop the nesting platform that sits on the Smith Mountain shoreline. According to Brian Heft, park manager, the eggs should hatch around Memorial Day.

“The new ospreys will fly about 60 days after hatching, but it’s not a precise science on the bird’s end,” Heft said.

Appalachian Power, along with the Virginia Society of Ornithology and Friends of Smith Mountain Lake State Park, funded the osprey nesting platform in 2004.

To view the nest, go to http://is.gd/smosprey.