For more than 30 years, Group for the East End has been monitoring local osprey populations, recording crucial information and assisting conservation efforts. Since 2014, staff and volunteers have partnered with local organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, Eastern Long Island Audubon, North Fork Audubon, Seatuck Environmental Association, and various staff from town agencies, to gather osprey breeding data on eastern Long Island.
This past summer, the Group monitored 634 in the five East End towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton, and Southold, documenting 466 active nesting pairs, which produced 585 fledglings.
In addition to monitoring efforts, the Group has installed and maintained more than 250 osprey nesting platforms over the past three decades. This work, which was critical to the osprey’s recovery, complemented efforts by scores of other conservation groups, New York State and Suffolk County Parks, homeowner associations, municipalities, and private citizens with the shared goal to protect and sustain the osprey. Alongside PSEG Long Island, which has become a critical conservation partner, the Group has developed a long-term monitoring and maintenance program for active osprey nests Island-wide, which will help identify problematic nest sites and provide accurate population and habitat data.
When the Group was founded 50 years ago, there were a number of positive turns that aided ospreys and many other wildlife. “By the late 1980s, the Group was actively assisting in osprey recovery by erecting artificial osprey nesting platforms in appropriate locations, an activity we continued to varying degrees over the following three decades,” shared Group director of environmental education Steve Biasetti. “Local and regional osprey numbers slowly but steadily improved as a result of all of these actions. Still, the Long Island osprey population — from Brooklyn and Queens through the twin forks to the many eastern islands including Fishers and Plum — amounted to a modest 165 nests and 215 fledglings in 1988. Fast-forward to 2021: the current osprey population is thriving… While it continues to be our collective responsibility to be vigilant environmental stewards, I confidently assert that the osprey population has made a full recovery on eastern Long Island.”
As a measure of total nesting success, monitoring undertaken in across the five East End towns in 2014 identified 199 active nests. While improved monitoring efforts have no doubt identified additional nests which may have been missed in earlier years, there is no doubt that the number of active nests has steadily increased and by well over 200 percent in less than a decade.
“The Group has been involved with osprey monitoring for years and has maintained a mountain of data,” said Group environmental associate Madison Hrysko. “A great way to bring this data to life is through the use of mapping technology to show where the osprey nests are geographically and chart their success over time. This year, we have begun using geographic mapping technology compiling a regional interactive map these maps can be used to compare where they have historically nested, keep inventory of existing osprey poles, and help to gage their success on Long Island, and share more accurate information with the public and integrate the monitoring data collected by other conservation organizations across Long Island.”
These trends highlight the need for more public outreach and communication about the region’s osprey population and the importance of managing potential conflicts that can emerge as a result of the osprey’s close association with human development, especially along the shoreline.
According to Group environmental associate Marina DeLuca, “this winter we will be developing a new website to provide members of the public with significant information about our local osprey population that will include tips for avoiding conflicts, understanding behaviors, promoting osprey conservation, and providing safe nesting opportunities for these magnificent birds.”
2021 MONITORING DATA
On Shelter Island, Group staff and volunteers monitored 71 sites, 57 of which showed activity, producing 79 fledglings. In Riverhead, 23 were monitored, 13 of which were active, producing 19 fledglings. In Southampton, west of the Shinnecock Canal, 65 sites were monitored, with 31 sites being active and 38 fledglings counted. East of the Shinnecock Canal in Southampton, the team monitored 105 sites, 74 of which were active, with 79 fledglings produced. In East Hampton, there were 147 sites that were monitored with 129 being active, and 140 fledglings counted. In Southold, there 223 sites monitored, with 162 being active, and 230 fledglings counted. The number of active nests has steadily increased since 2014 and is now 466.
PSEG LONG ISLAND PARTNERSHIP
In general, and most notably in in Southold Town, there has been an uptick in birds nesting in trees and on utility poles over the past several years. Tree nests are ideal and were far more common prior to the osprey’s decline across the region. Nesting on utility poles has also become more common, though it can be very hazardous to the birds. Nesting osprey are in regular contact with water and their repeat visits back and forth to nesting sites with wet fish and sticks used in nest construction can lead to contact with electrified lines that can spark fires and lead to the electrocution of both adults and young, which are unable to fly.
PSEG Long Island has become an important conservation partner by working with the Group and local community members to safely remove dangerously located nests and provide far safer elevated nesting platforms, in areas where the birds demonstrate a strong interest in establishing a nest. PSEG Long Island’s osprey conservation team has also pioneered a physical deterrent that can be placed over dangerous electrical equipment – keeping the birds safe and discouraging new nests in areas that are dangerous to the ospreys.
“Our collaboration with the Group for the East End to protect Long Island’s osprey population has been beneficial to everyone,” said Daniel Eichhorn, president and chief operating officer, PSEG Long Island. “This partnership has enabled us to quickly identify and remediate dangerous situations and work on long-term planning that will protect both the osprey and the electric system. Most importantly, in an emergency, Bob DeLuca and his staff can now report to a location and provide guidance to our line workers and local residents, who enjoy these beautiful birds.”
East End resident and volunteer Adam Irving shared, “Living close to the Orient Harbor, I worked with PSEG Long Island to safeguard ospreys when building new nests on old utility poles. PSEG Long Island added plastic barriers to prevent nest construction on the dangerous double cross poles. Additionally, they added a nesting platform on a nearby pole allowing a successful fledging this past summer.”
According to Group President Bob DeLuca, “now that the breeding season has passed, our monitoring team is back in the field working with PSEG Long Island to identify those particular utility poles that create the most hazardous conditions for nesting and working to prioritize the installation of more hazardous nest deterrents ahead of next year’s breeding season. The sooner we can identify the areas of greatest hazard, the sooner we can provide proactive protection for our returning ospreys.”
REASONS FOR POPULATION INCREASE
A significant reason for the robust increase can be traced to changes in fishing regulations over the past decade, specifically regarding the limit on the amount of “bunker” or menhaden, a smaller fish that is predated on by larger fish, such as bluefish and striped bass. The regulations were put in place to help increase the local fishing economy — industrial and recreational, however an indirect but beneficial result has been an increasingly available food source for the region’s osprey population, which maintains a diet of roughly 99 percent fish.
EAST END OSPREY HISTORY
The decline of the osprey in the 1950s through ’70s was caused by DDT-induced eggshell thinning, greatly reducing the reproductive efforts of osprey and hurtling the iconic “fish hawk” on a path to local extinction or extirpation from New York State. In 1976, the species was listed as endangered in the State. With the ban of DDT in 1972, the population slowly began to rebound in the early 1980s.
In 1983, the osprey was downgraded to “threatened.” By 1995, there were 230 breeding pairs on Long Island and four years later osprey was downgraded again to “Species of Special Concern,” which is its current status.
In addition to the threat of pesticides, wetland destruction also carved away the osprey’s nesting habitat at an accelerating pace. As the osprey population increases, many birds have begun to nest naturally in trees while others find themselves on docks, chimneys, light, and utility poles. Nesting in these areas can lead to conflicts with humans or injuries to the birds.
For more information about Group for the East End, visit groupfortheeastend.org.