Nice Digs for Nesting Ospreys

By Bill Bleyer, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Apr. 30–Ospreys on Long Island usually make their nests in trees or atop poles that provide protection and a good vantage point for the fish that are their preferred food.

But a pair of the fish hawks has found a chimney on the former William K. Vanderbilt mansion that serves as the centerpiece of Dowling College’s Oakdale campus the perfect place to roost.

Ospreys have been seen for years flying above the Connetquot River by the campus. This pair was first observed more than two weeks ago by employees in the registrar’s office located in the mansion. They dubbed the birds Max and Clara in honor of Max and Clara Fortunoff, benefactors for whom the building is named Fortunoff Hall.

“It’s a nesting pair,” said John Tanacredi, chairman of the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences. There’s no danger because the chimney is no longer used. “I’m not sure if they’ve got chicks up there yet but I know they’ve been dropping fish in the parking lot.”

If the birds successfully produce young, “we can pretty much count on them coming back to the same location, and there could be generations of osprey coming here.”

Barbara Loucks, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation in Albany, said there are hundreds of pairs nesting on Long Island.

“Osprey nests have been reported on rocks on the beach, on old barn roofs, on piles of old fence rails, on buoys in channels, on pilings and of course on top of nesting platforms and trees,” Loucks said.

The birds used to be an endangered species but are now protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as a “species of concern.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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