Group for the East End Shifts Conservation Efforts as Local Osprey Population Continues to Thrive
GROUP FOR THE EAST END SHIFTS CONSERVATION EFFORTS AS LOCAL OSPREY POPULATION CONTINUES TO THRIVE
(Eastern Long Island, New York… May 2024) Group for the East End [thegroup.org] 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. 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. Learn more at thegroup.org/initiatives/osprey-conservation.
“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,” shares Group president Bob DeLuca. “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.”
The public has played an integral role in the success of the osprey. As the East End community now 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. This can be found at thegroup.org/initiatives/osprey-conservation.
“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. 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. 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. 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 which were 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. These 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 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. 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.
REASONS FOR POPULATION INCREASE
The robust 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% 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.
ABOUT GROUP FOR THE EAST END
Group for the East End protects and restores the environment of eastern Long Island, New York through professional advocacy and education. We inspire people to embrace a conservation ethic and to take action in their local community.
