Environmental Programs - Osprey Habitats

A bird’s-eye view in real time
Get up-close and personal with our resident ospreys via Web camera link

Because we are part of the community we serve, Palmetto Electric Cooperative is concerned about protecting and preserving our environment. As with the Loggerhead Sea Turtles, we are also concerned with the preservation of endangered Ospreys in the Lowcountry.

Twenty to 30 years ago Ospreys faced possible extinction, because the species couldn’t produce enough young to maintain the population. Since the ban of DDT (a powerful insecticide) in the early 1970s, the Ospreys have made a remarkable recovery. Other restoration strategies, such as artificial nest construction, also have helped.

For years electric transmission towers have served as nesting homes for the migratory osprey. As you drive across the Intracoastal Waterway to Hilton Head Island, you can spot the Ospreys congregating on the towers during the spring and summer months. Another tower—in Palmetto Electric’s own backyard—has also served as home to Osprey since 1988.

Each spring our feathered friends return to reside high atop the communications tower that overlooks Palmetto Electric’s Hilton Head Island operations center. This year new residents have taken over the nest and are settling in for the summer. Join Palmetto Electric in our second osprey season as we get a bird’s-eye view thanks to a Web camera mounted nearby. Listen to an Osprey call

Learn more about ospreys from our Osprey FAQ's, read this year's osprey webcam log and view current osprey photos as well as review past photographs from our osprey gallery!

Platform set in utility tower, overlooking intercoastal waterway at Hilton Head Island, is nesting home to migrating Ospreys each year.