A sure sign of spring: Ospreys return to North Fork

It’s that time of year again, when North Fork residents catch their first sightings of osprey, long a symbol of springtime in the area.

And this week, residents are reporting the return of the familiar raptors as the hawks head north, back to their nests.

Osprey have yearly rituals, well-beloved to those who follow their annual journey home. According to Tom Damiani, visitors center coordinator for the Nature Conservancy in Southold, the osprey generally first turn up on the days before and after St. Patrick’s Day.

Male osprey always come first, he said. “They’re more connected to the nest site than to the female they were paired up with the year before,” he said.

Sometimes, a pair of osprey team up and stake a claim to a nest, Damiani said; the male comes back first every season to line the nest with sticks and other materials.

Next, the male will start his mating flight, carrying a fish in his talons and vocalizing with a high-pitched sound, Damiani said, trying to woo a female.

If another female shows up before one that’s fraternized with the year before, the osprey will choose her for copulation, Damiani said. “He won’t wait around. The whole idea is propagation of the species.”

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, an osprey is a bird of prey usually measuring about 22 to 25 inches, with a wingspan of four to six feet.

Female osprey are slightly larger than male, and adult plumage is dark brown above, and white below, the DEC said.

Osprey, which eat live fish, usually have three eggs in their nest each spring.

The nests, which become yearly retreats, can be as high as 10 feet in the air. Young osprey leave the nest at about eight weeks, and stay in the area for about two months, according to the DEC.

The East End, and Long Island, have traditionally been a primary place for osprey breeding; the other is in the Adirondack Mountains, according to the DEC.

Osprey saw a steep decline after DDT, an insecticide, appeared, with a population decline from approximately 1,000 nests in the 1940s between New York and Boston, to around 150 nests in 1969, according to the DEC.

Through the ban of DDT in 1971, and the concerted efforts by the Group for the East End, osprey are once again “rebounding” over the past couple of decades on the North Fork, according to the Group for the East End’s Vice President Aaron Virgin.

Over 60 platforms on the North Fork, Virgin said, were put up by the North Fork Audubon Society, the Stoutenburg family, and Southold Town, over the past 30 years; the Group for the East End has put up 10 over the past three years.

To determine just how many pairs of osprey are on the North and South Forks, the Group for the East End has embarked on a two year study.

There are 200 osprey platforms being used, and at least that many pair of osprey on the East End currently. A new platform will be put up in Southold next week, Virgin said.{gallery}2014_0320_osprey{/gallery}

Another program will be geared toward getting osprey to nest in natural areas, such as on the ground, as they do in Gardiner’s Bay on Shelter Island, and on large boulders, which the did on Robins Island in Peconic Bay until Hurricane Sandy knocked over the nest, Virgin said.

Virgin said the public has a natural “fascination” with birds of prey, including bald eagles, which were seen on Shelter Island at the Mashomack Preserve last week.

“It’s always nice to see them,” Damiani said. “It means spring is here.”

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl
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