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Fepruary 27, 1992 - Hi-Rise Housing Helped Save OspreysA • The_Syffolk Times-,* Fepruary 27, 1992. Hi -Rise Housing Helped Save Ospreys By Paul Stoutenburgh In just about a month the ospreys will be back from their winter stay in the south where living is easier and food more plentiful. The warmer states, the Caribbean and even the tropics of the Amazon River delta hey have spent FOCUS �01, t lazy days fishing Mature until the urge once again sends them back north to nest in the exact same spot they've used year after year. Ospreys mate for life and unless some unpleasant event takes one away, the pair reunites each year to nest and raise its young. To help this magnificent fish hawk, many osprey platforms have been put up throughout the East End and neighboring islands. The largest concentrations of these manmade structures are on the north shore and Gardiners Island with a growing number on Shelter Island and the South Fork. It's this time of the year that some of us survey the damage to these platforms to see what winter storms have done to them. Some have been bent over by high winds and a few have been completely blown down, it takes a pretty strong support to hold the huge, bulky nests that are added to each year by the returning ospreys. Then, when it rains or snows, the added weight to the nest sometimes becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back and they go down. This adding to each year and the sponge effect of rain in the nest often collapses nests that are built in trees. It is one of the main reasons platforms are put up, plus the fact there are fewer and fewer dead or decayed trees left to nest in. I can remember a downed nest where we saved two of the young when a tree limb broke under the strain of decay and weight. Low -Rise Housing In natural settings ospreys will often choose a dead tree to build in and it doesn't help matters when the huge nests are built on dead limbs. Ospreys have overcome this problem of collapsing nests on Gardiners Island, where there are no predators, by building some of their nests right on the ground or on objects resting close to the ground. Some of these nests, because of the ac- cumulation each year, can reach six feet or more in height and weigh over a half a ton. Of the 33 nest sites I helped put up we had only two that were completely blown down. four or five needed to be straightened up but the majority weath- ered the winter storms well and are Knights of Lithuania Mass and Luncheon CUTCHOGUE —The Knights of Lithuania Council 152 of eastern Long Island will sponsor its annual mass and communion in honor of St. Casimir on Sunday, March 1, at Our Lady of Ostrabrama Church on Depot Lane. Mass will be celebrated at 12:15 p.m. by the Rev. William Scrill. A sit -down luncheon with a choice of fresh ham or roast turkey will be served immediately after the mass at the Southold Town Recreation Center, Peconic Lane, Peconic. Tickets are $8 and may be obtained by calling Agnes Manna at 929 -6134. awaiting the ospreys' return. The ideal pole for an osprey platform is a small- diameter telephone pole but even that needs many strong backs to help put it up. After the platform is added it becomes an unwieldy affair to bring up into position. Seeing telephone poles are so unwieldy we have often used farmers' old galvanized irrigation pipes that come in 20 -foot lengths. It works out remarkably well and many have been up for over 10 years. These are comparatively light and can be han- dled by two people much more easily than the cumbersome telephone poles where four, six or more people are need- ed to put them up. We've put up these osprey platforms in various kinds of footings: some solid gravel that are devilish to dig out, others in marsh lands that need extra bracing because of the softness, some in beach sand and others in solid dirt. Each has its own challenge and reward. Some go up in no time while others will take hours, even days to finish off. Popular Pond Frontage One of our first challenges many years ago was one we put up in the Nature Conservancy's Husing Pond. Here we waited for winter's freeze and then a group of hardy volunteers chopped a hole in the ice, got a gasoline pump to jet down the telephone pole and with much grunting and heaving put it in position in the middle of the pond. This platform has lured the same pair of ospreys back successfully year after year. Once an osprey has decided to adopt a location for nesting it becomes the neighborhood bird and many's an eye that keeps track of its progress and sometimes its problems. Ospreys use a wide variety of materials to build their nest. Sticks make up the majority of these materials but old plastic, rope, odd shoes, even dolls, anything that is washed up along the shoreline is build- ing material for the osprey. In gathering its material often monofilament fish line and plastic ropes are picked up, which become a real problem for the birds in the nest. One of our watchers called just last year about a young bird that was Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh RAISING OSPREY PLATFORM — Osprey platforms should be put up away from people. This one in The Nature Conservancy's Husing Pond has lured the same pair of ospreys back each year. hanging from the nest entangled in fish line. It was rescued and brought to Dr. Zitek, a certified wildlife veterinarian, who brought it back to health and later released it. We have been finding that property - owner associations often have parcels of land away from people that make ideal nesting sites for ospreys and they want their own osprey platform and are will- ing to pay for it. It's good to see these cooperative efforts going on whereby the community gets its own special osprey to watch. Once these treated telephone poles are in place there is little or no care from then on, just the pure enjoyment of watching the birds return each year to rear their young. Fifty years ago ospreys were common throughout our East End then came the era after World War II when pesticides were indiscriminately used. These un- seen killers found their way into the food chain of the osprey and many other birds. The population plummeted to a point where extinction was on the hori- zon. ■_ef ,psft i_wwL nA..L 78 Years Ago Feb. 28, 1914 Winter Harbor: If summer guests could see the waterfront at Shelter Island Heights now they would hardly recognize their old haunts. Instead of pretty bathing girls bedecked in clinging silks, men and women yachters in their white flannels, we now behold men and women in furs, like grizzly bears. Dering Harbor is filled with ice and big ice floes float past the wharf; and not a boat or anything movable in sight, except the sparkling ice and the graceful gull on the wing. The Fish Hatchery: Senator O'Gorman's bill appropriating $50,000 for a fish hatchery on the east end has passed the Senate. Supt. Walters of the Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery declares that Gardiners Island, where the old fort was, would make an ideal site. This is sinking land and a very difficult place to get to in stormy weather. In Greenport we have all the necessary qualifications. The Montauk fishermen say this is an ideal spot. Gull Pond and Pipes Cove have both been suggested. These sites are on the mainland and can be reached at all times. We hope Greenport will be given careful consideration. 50 Years Ago Feb. 26, 1942 Thousands Register: Last week Suffolk County Luckily, laws were passed that pre- vented 'the use of certain chemicals and the ospreys have rebounded unbe- lievably. Today they are now a common nester in and around our bays and creeks. it just goes to prove that with a little thought and consideration nature has a way of bouncing back to make our world a better place to live. Bonsai Society Sets Meetings RIVERHEAD— Meetings of the Eastern Suffolk Bonsai Society are held on the first Tuesday of each month beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Cooperative Extension building, 246 Griffing Ave. Each session includes lectures and demonstrations. The next meetings are scheduled for March 3, April 7 and May. 5. Call 667 -5445 for information. added thousands to the millions of men who registered for war service. Local Board 700, with offices at Mattituck, states that 1,290 men registered in the area under its juris- diction, and 1,404 registered with Board No. 701 of Southampton. It is expected the first of these men will be called about April 1. Sugar Rationing Begins: Sugar rationing registra- tion dates have been fixed for consumers, March 16 to 21 at all schools; wholesalers, retailers and industries, March 9 and 10 at high schools only. State Rationing Director Mau- rice Neufeld asserted, "Unless the greedy stop stuffing their pantries, an ever - increasing number of items are certain to be placed on the national rationing list." Twelve ounces of sugar per person per week has been designated as the con- sumer allotment. 25 Years Ago March 3, 1967 The Flower Train: If every flower - loving lady on Long Island doesn't visit the 50th International Flower Show at the New York Coliseum at least once, it won't be the Long Island Rail Road's fault. Because it loves all Long Islanders, the LIRR will burst into bloom with travel and admission bargains. East End Long Islanders will have spe- cial trains from Greenport and Montauk on Saturday, March 11, at round -trip fares of $4 for adults and $1 for children.