Hazard, Conflict Mitigation Focus Of New Osprey Efforts On East End

EAST END, NY — In honor of World Migratory Bird Day on Saturday, May 11, Group for the East End is spotlighting new efforts to keep beloved osprey safe.

Osprey, a beloved harbinger of spring, are back across the East End for the season. As the population continues to soar, Group for the East End said efforts are now focused on hazard and conflict mitigation.

Group for the East End has monitored local osprey populations, recording crucial information and assisting conservation efforts, for more than 30 years.

"As the population began to steadily increase across the five East End towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton, and Southold, the Group formally shifted its conservation efforts from annual counts to focus on hazard and conflict mitigation, with monitoring now taking place every three years," the group said. "In partnership with PSEG Long Island, the Group is launching an education campaign that offers the community ways to address hazards and conflicts between people and nesting birds."

"In 1985 when I helped install Group for the East End’s very first osprey nesting platforms, I really didn’t know if this magnificent bird would ever truly recover," Group President Bob DeLuca said. "But we knew we had to try. Nearly 40 years later, I am thrilled to see that our work, alongside that of so many others, has given our local osprey population a second chance. It’s an ongoing effort, and a worthy one, as we enter the next important stage of the osprey’s sustained recovery."

To that end, he said, as the East End community navigates living with a thriving local population, many questions have come up, including what to do if an osprey nests on a home structure, a nest appears to be in danger, damaged osprey platforms, and more. In response, the Group has created a thorough print and digital guide to use as a resource.

"As we look to the future, the focus of our work and that of our conservation partners will move to sustaining and protecting our local osprey population," DeLuca continues. "A major priority of this effort will focus on educating members of the public about this magnificent bird and what we can all do to help keep the population numbers up, while avoiding potential conflicts between human activities and nesting ospreys."

The Group has also noted that ospreys are back to nesting in trees. For centuries, breeding pairs found natural nesting sites along beaches, shorelines, and waterways.

"While it is a great sign that ospreys are nesting in their original habitat again, many still try to make their home atop electrified utility poles," the Group said. "These poles can be an attractive nest location, but potentially fatal for ospreys, thus calling for critical mitigation measures to protect both the species and electrical service."

In partnership with PSEG Long Island, the Group identifies potential hazards and PSEG installs hazard mitigation measures to prevent nesting, or relocate existing nests, on electrified utility poles, representatives said.

Since 2022, 200 potentially hazardous poles have been identified; approximately 100 of the highest risk poles received v-guard installations, which cover electrified lines and equipment, to protect ospreys and their nests, the Group said.

Mitigation measures vary between poles due to a variety of factors and installations are determined on a case-by-case basis.

"PSEG Long Island is proud to partner with Group for the East End in osprey conservation efforts, because good environmental stewardship is part of being strongly involved in the community, and also because protecting these birds from high-voltage equipment improves reliability for the customers we serve," said Dave Lyons, PSEG Long Island’s interim president and chief operating officer. "We are excited to continue our work together."

The Group’s most recent count took place in summer 2022. There were 477 nesting sites monitored across the East End, with 353 active nesting pairs documented. These nesting pairs produced 505 fledglings. In Riverhead, Group staff and volunteers monitored 25 potential nesting sites, 19 of which showed activity, producing 29 fledglings.

In Southampton, west of the canal, 49 sites were monitored, 38 of which were active, producing 49 fledglings. In Southampton, east of the canal, 105 sites were monitored, 74 of whichwere active, producing 90 fledglings. In East Hampton, 63 sites were monitored, 49 of which were active, producing 84 fledglings. In Southold, 183 sites were monitored, 136 of which were active, producing 193 fledglings. On Shelter Island, 52 sites were monitored, 37 of which were active, producing 60 fledglings.

The numbers do not include Shelter Island's Mashomack Preserve, East Hampton's Gardiners Island, or Southold's Robins Island, Plum Island, or Fishers Island.

In addition to monitoring efforts, the Group said it 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," the Group said. "Group staff and volunteers have also 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."

According to the Group, the population increase can be attributed to several measures, from the elimination of certain harmful pesticides that caused the population collapse some 50 years ago, to the construction of safe and secure nesting platforms, to the more recent improvements in fishing regulations, specifically regarding the limit on “bunker” or menhaden — a smaller fish that is predated on by larger fish, such as bluefish and striped bass — which play a key role in the diet of osprey populations and their success. The bunker regulations were put in place to help increase the local fishing economy— both industrial and recreational — however, an indirect yet beneficial result has been an increasingly available food source for the region's osprey population, which maintains a diet of roughly 99 percent fish, the Group said.

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, the Group said. 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.

On June 8, Group for the East End and North Fork Audubon Society will present an osprey talk and walk at Inlet Pond County Park