Ospreys, A Sure Sign Of Spring, Make Their Appearance Off Of Neck Road, Hammonasset

The Paduda family was happy to see an Osprey return to its nest Tuesday on the Neck River, having returned to the area from its winter home, most likely somewhere in northern South America, near the equator.

"Saw this on the Neck River near the Shellfish Commission dock. The first Osprey sighting of the spring, at 3:12 p.m., with a small bunker in its claws," Joe Paduda told us via email.

Matthew Male, who was serving as shopkeeper at the Audubon Shop in Madison Monday afternoon, said Paduda and other neighborhood residents are right to be delighted at the return of the Osprey. Not only are they a sure sign of spring, but they're also a symbol of a successful effort to save a species that was threatened, an effort that started decades ago.

"They're just coming back now" to Madison and surrounding towns, Male said. "They're just starting to come back again for the first time after this winter."

Male said several were sighted at Hammonasset Beach State Park recently, and that other have been seen in Chester and Old Lyme in recent weeks.

 Male reminded us that the Osprey population was threatened back in the 1960's due to chemicals like DDT. "The population plummeted," Male said. "We almost lost them all."

Madison can thank environmental heroes like biologist Paul Spitzer for its current healthy population of Ospreys, Male said. Inspired by the work of Rachel Carson, who wrote Silent Spring, Spitzer transferred healthy Osprey eggs from the Chesapeake Bay area to the Connecticut River estuary after he found contaminated eggs were collapsing when the mom and dad birds, who often mate for life, were trying to incubate them. In the late 1960's Spitzer slipped the healthy eggs into the nests around here to replace the collapsed eggs, Male said. To find out more about that, you can go to this article from ospreyworld.com, then do a page search of "Spitzer."

"Basically, his work meant that our Osprey population recovered about ten years sooner that it otherwise might have," Male said. "He's responsible for the bigger numbers we have now. It was a very successful effort."

Male said Ospreys are "pretty amazing" for a wide range of reasons. "They are fish-eating birds who now nest mainly on man-made platforms. They used to nest in dead trees without leaves on them, but those fall over a lot, so now you see platforms everywhere."

Ospreys are impressive looking raptors, usually about 21 to 25 inches long, with a wingspan of up to about 72 inches, and a distinctive dark brown stripe from the eye down the cheek.

Male said a permit is required from the state Department of Environmental Protection to put up a platform to ensure that the platform is  built correctly and in an appropriate area.

"If you look at an Osprey nest, you'll see they are numbered," he said. "The state DEP keeps track of every one of them."

To find out more about Ospreys, you can read this information from the state DEP. Or you can check out the PDF on the permitting process that is posted with this article. It looks a little complicated, but if you have the right kind of habitat nearby, it would be well worth the effort.

"One of the reasons there has been a resurgance of Ospreys is that people like them and they get along with people," Male said. "They don't like people too close to the nest, but they don't mind people nearby."