The osprey pair that has nested on the platform at the north end of Sable Reservoir returned in the first week of April and are now sitting on three eggs, according to volunteers who monitor the nest for the county conservation district.
It is the fifth consecutive season for the pair, which arrived in 2022 within a year of the platform going up. They have fledged nine chicks in four seasons, which the district’s wildlife biologist, Hana Oyelaran, calls “an unusually good run.”
Watching without bothering them
The live camera is running again at the conservation district website. Volunteers ask that people watch it from there rather than from the shoreline — the platform sits about 90 meters offshore, and adults that flush off the eggs repeatedly in cold weather can lose a clutch.
The single best thing you can do for these birds is watch them on a screen from your kitchen. That is not a disappointing answer, it is the actual answer.
Hana Oyelaran, county conservation district
What to expect over the summer
- Hatching, if all three are viable: late May
- Chicks visible above the nest rim: mid-June
- First flights: late July
- Departure for South America: early September, adults usually first
Why there are ospreys here at all
Ospreys were nearly gone from this part of the state by the early 1970s, when DDT thinned eggshells past the point of viability. The recovery since the ban has been one of the more complete comebacks in North American wildlife, and platforms like the one at Sable — which give birds a spot that is not a utility pole — have been a large part of it locally.
The nest itself now weighs an estimated 200 pounds. Ospreys add to the same structure every year, and this one has been built up for five.
The district is looking for two more volunteer monitors for the summer. The commitment is one two-hour shift a week.