The Incredible Journey: Osprey Return To Island Beach

ISLAND BEACH STATE PARK, NJ- It's a long, arduous journey for ospreys who fly from South America each year all the way to Island Beach State Park.

At least one of the popular osprey couple at the nest outside the interpretive center has come home. Bandit, the male, has been spotted on the nest, patiently waiting for his mate Bay, according to the Friends of Island Beach State Park Facebook page.

Bandit is already tidying up the nest after the harsh winter, next to the Pete McClain Osprey Cam. The Osprey Cam was named after Paul D. McClain, who brought the osprey back to New Jersey back in the late 1960s.

After a few weeks, Bay will lay a clutch of two or three eggs. The eggs hatch in late May or early June. You can watch the activity from their arrival until the chicks take their first flight here.

We owe the growing population of osprey at the park to the late Paul D. "Pete" McClain, who was deputy director of the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife when he decided to bring the osprey back to the Jersey Shore and Island Beach.

Environmental conditions were grim for the large raptor birds back in the early 1970s. Nesting sites were hard to come by, due to the rapid development of wetlands. DDT and other chemicals had been heavily used in 1950s and 1960s for mosquito control and worked their way into the food chain.

By 1968 there were only 12 osprey nests at Island Beach State Park. By 1974, the number had dropped to just one. Osprey eggs laid during those years were too thin and brittle for the chicks to survive the incubation period.

McLain founded the Osprey Project along with Teddy Schubert, a conservation officer with the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife. The two traveled to Maryland, where osprey eggs were healthier because there was less pesticide contamination and more nesting areas.

McLain and Schubert made the often perilous climbs to osprey nests high in the sky - sometimes dropped in by helicopter, sometimes by clambering up utility poles - and removed some of the healthy eggs.

The healthy eggs were put into incubators, then trucked back to New Jersey. They were then gently placed in osprey nests at Island Beach and down the coast, in the hopes the osprey parents would accept the new eggs.
Within 20 minutes, the adult osprey returned to the nests and began incubating the new eggs. The egg transfer program continued from 1975 thorough 1981, when there was no longer any need for it.

Their work was chronicled in the vintage documentary film "The Osprey - A New Jersey Success Story."

If you've enjoyed watching the Osprey Cam, we ask you to MAKE A DONATION to help us raise money to support camera. The Osprey Cam brings enjoyment and excitement to both adults and children alike.
Friends of Island Beach State Park is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and your donations are tax deductible.

Photos: Courtesy of the Friends of Island Beach State Park