Sometimes little things are the evidence of a bigger event.

That was the case earlier this month when the Moraine Preservation Fund activated its osprey cam.

The camera provides the public with an online look at a nesting pair of ospreys on the north shore of Moraine State Park’s Lake Arthur. The event is proof the preservation fund’s efforts to reintroduce osprey to the park has been a success.

The osprey is known as a fish hawk because it feeds mostly on live fish. It stalks the fish by hovering high over the water and then diving feet first to catch its prey in its claws.

However, its diet almost led to the osprey’s extinction in Pennsylvania.

Fifty years ago, the osprey had practically vanished from the state because of the use of the insecticide DDT. DDT is blamed for a catastrophic decline in the osprey population because the chemical causes osprey eggshells to become too thin to support incubation.

Ospreys, feeding on fish, ate large amounts of DDT that had accumulated up the food chain. After the federal Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT, osprey populations began a comeback.

The comeback was aided by conservationists who constructed artificial nesting platforms to help the birds recover.

In June 1993, the Moraine Preservation fund began an osprey reintroduction program at the state park, bringing in six birds from the Chesapeake Bay area. The program was a success with six fledglings raised on several nesting platforms in 1998.

The presence of the osprey cam is a testament to the successful reintroduction of the osprey to Moraine State Park. Unfortunately, not all the sights on the cam have been happy ones. Cam viewers have watched owl attacks the killed osprey chicks in the past. But last season, the osprey cam recorded a successful breeding season for the parents and their chick.

The happy feathered family is proof the efforts of conservationists and volunteers with the Moraine Preservation Fund have paid off in a big way. Let's hope that it is repeated this year.

— EF