Those who watch the video from the camera trained on the osprey nest at Moraine State Park were no doubt horrified on Friday morning, June 30, to find three deceased chicks in the lofty structure.

Moraine Preservation Fund officials confirmed Friday that a hungry great horned owl killed and fed on all three osprey chicks in the nest.

Michelle Huff, a fund board member and overseer of the nest cam since its inception in 2018, was devastated early Friday morning when she checked the cam as usual.

“When I wake up, the first thing I do is look at the camera,” Huff said Friday afternoon. “I woke up at 4:55 a.m. and pulled it up to see a great horned owl staring at the camera. I’ve been up ever since.”

She said, according to the video she was able to retrieve, the owl attacked at 1:35 a.m.

The mother, who apparently was perched nearby, arrived on the scene and put up a fight, but was unable to fend off the raptor because, unlike her adversary, she does not have the advantage of night vision.

She eventually had to leave the nest for her own safety. The father, who perches elsewhere at night, did not appear during the fracas.

“(The mother) did come in immediately when the owl arrived,” Huff said.

She said all three chicks were deceased by 2:06 a.m., and the owl remained in the nest feeding on the chicks for some time. At one point, the owl left the nest for 45 minutes, but returned to continue feeding.

“It left the nest for the final time at 4:57 a.m.,” Huff said.

She said the method used by owls in an attack on chicks is to land on them and strike with their sharp beak.

“(The chicks) flapped and called, but they don’t have the experience or strength to defend against a great horned owl,” Huff said.

The chicks were healthy and nearly four weeks old, she said.

“This is nature at its most brutal and cruel,” Huff said. “It’s hard to watch.”

On Friday morning, the partial carcasses of two of the chicks remained in the nest alongside the wings of the third chick.

Huff said the mother removed one of the wings in the morning and one in the afternoon.

It is unknown what will become of the other two chicks’ remains.

“They could become part of the nest. That is yet to be seen,” Huff said. “That’s part of the educational element of having the cam, seeing what happens going forward.”

She said due to the disturbing scene, a viewer-discretion warning was added to the video feed Friday morning.

Huff said she will edit the footage of the attack and eventually share it on the cam.

She said the parents will not generate another clutch of eggs, as it is too late in the season.

Huff expects the osprey pair to remain in the nest until they migrate in late summer and return next spring.

“I do believe they will stay in the area to protect their territory,” she said.

While she understands the attack represents the natural process, she regrets the death of the healthy chicks.

“They were all thriving,” Huff said of the osprey family. “The one day, the dad brought in 13 fish. The chicks would have fledged in three weeks.”

She said since overseeing the placement of the cam in 2018, she has watched it almost constantly, including during her workday.

“I’m pretty upset,” Huff said. “I’ve spent countless hours monitoring the camera, visiting the nest site, watching them lay the eggs, watching the eggs hatching and the chicks growing.”

She said the camera will remain on the osprey nest.

“It’s always sad to see the loss,” Huff said.

She said no other attacks at the nest have been filmed, but the cam did not record at night in years past.

In 2020, Huff and her husband noticed a chick missing in the morning and found it alive 300 feet from the nest.

Although the chick was taken to Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Saegertown, it did not survive.

David Murray, president of Moraine Preservation Fund, was downhearted, but pragmatic about the chicks’ demise.

“I’m saddened by it, but we have the osprey cam as an educational tool and really what we caught is disturbing for some humans to look at, but it’s nature occurring in its own environment,” Murray said.