Pat’s Wildways: Osprey happenings

There’s a lot happening in the world of Amelia Island ospreys right now, and my inbox has been following two parallel stories. This is the time of year when ospreys start setting up their nest for the breeding season. This time coincides with the conclusion of the bald eagle nesting season. These two species are enemies. Eagles may eat osprey chicks and ospreys may harass eagles. But nature has worked out a schedule so both birds can fully enjoy the natural areas available for their reproduction with less conflict. There are six eagle nests in our vicinity, but the most readily visible is from the boardwalk at Crane Island, where two young eaglets are just about ready to fly off on their own and may be gone at the time this column appears. Other nests at Fort Clinch, Florence Point, the south end of Amelia Island, the end of West Indigo Road and elsewhere are less visible to us but most likely in the same stage of development.

But with the eagles on their way out, in come the osprey. For as long as I have been on Amelia Island I have been watching the osprey nest on a platform atop a tall pole on North 14^th Street by the back gate to Fort Clinch State Park. Years ago, this nest was on an active power pole, but Florida Public Utilities (FPU) took up the challenge and installed a new pole and platform just for the ospreys, dismantled the old nest, and the ospreys soon nested on the now-preferred site. Most years, a pair of ospreys has successfully raised and fledged two or more chicks. This year, ospreys are again on this platform and hopefully will be successful again.

A few years ago, another pair of ospreys built a very visible nest on top of a dead tree off Simmons Road and Robert Oliver Avenue. But last June, much to the avid osprey watchers’ horror, the rotting tree finally toppled and the nest along with it. It was unclear if any eggs or chicks were present, but people searched the ground dutifully and found nothing. Within a few weeks, the local homeowners and Lynda Bell with Keep Nassau Beautiful gathered enough funding to buy a new pole and platform, and FPU provided the labor to install it. Last year, the ospreys did return to check out the new platform but instead started building a new nest on a nearby utility pole, without rearing chicks. This year, though, a pair of ospreys has rediscovered this new platform and are busily bringing in sticks and twigs to build a new nest. Hopefully, we can all watch their activity as they build their nest, incubate eggs, and bring in food to feed their offspring as the weeks wear on.

Elsewhere, the initial news about another set of ospreys was less encouraging. City workers had noticed ospreys around an old nest on a power pole on South Front Street near construction for the waterfront park. But recent high winds blew through town and, as workers watched, an osprey got blown into a live power line and fell to the ground electrocuted. It was not known if a pair of ospreys had started building their nest there yet, but now one was certainly out of the picture. And it takes two ospreys to raise any young so the prognosis looked grim.

But wow, nature came through. Less than a week after the osprey died, I was looking at the single osprey in this nest and feeling sad about the loss of its partner. But amazingly, as I watched, another osprey flew in and mated with it. A happy couple maybe once again!

Ospreys that once nested in an inappropriate place in Flora Parke off the island were also presented with a new platform and pole, at the corner near the RaceTrac service station. Now ospreys are building up this nest for the season. Another active osprey nest is visible at the old pogy plant off North 14^th Street. There are other osprey nests becoming active all around our area too. If you keep an eye out and look at tall poles and trees you may find other nests too. It is one of the joys of living here, watching nesting ospreys.  The more you look the more you will notice. Check out the nests I’ve mentioned and look for others.  And have fun!

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. patandbucko@yahoo.com