Photo from the Field

I had the pleasure of receiving this photo from Joe Orlando shortly after we installed this platform on August 13th. Joe donated to have this platform placed near his house in Ocean City. His donation goes far beyond this single platform. It will be used to repair and replace other platforms to support our goals of helping the state population recover to historic levels (pre-DDT). A few days after we installed the platform Joe sent me this photo. I was happy to see a pair of adults that were already starting to place some nesting material in the platform before they fly south to their wintering areas. This is a good sign that this pair might return to nest on this platform next year! 

Thanks for the donation and the photo Joe!

A pair of ospreys instantly take to a new platform installed on August 13th in Ocean City. Photo by Joe Orlando.

Post Season Wrap Up

This osprey nestling has no fear! Photo by Eric Sambol. 

Osprey surveys have been completed for this year. Most nestlings have already fledged. All major nesting colonies were surveyed by volunteers and biologists. I surveyed nests from as far north as Monmouth Beach south to Absecon. The extreme temperatures and strong storms this year sure didn’t make surveys any easier on us and ospreys. I noted several nests where I found dead young (anywhere from 1 wk – 4 wks in age) in nests. At a nest in Oceanville at Forsythe NWR three young were blown from the nest and did not survive following a severe thunderstorm. Preliminary results show mixed results. Barnegat Bay and Little Egg Harbor had increased productivity, while Sedge Islands (core population of B. Bay) was less productive. And productivity in Sea Isle City was more than double what it was in 2009. Full results will be published soon in our annual newsletter. Here is last year's newsletter.

Alf Breed, Joe Orlando (donor), Chris Haxter, and Ryan Risher (L to R) put the finishing touches on a new platform in Ocean City that Joe Orlando donated to have placed near his home.