Blog #363 History of Ospreys in New York and the Finger Lakes

Juvenile Osprey washing its feet by Kristopher Rowe. 

For the first time in nearly two hundred years, if ever, Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus  caronlinensis) are colonizing the Finger Lakes with the Cayuga Lake Basin at its core.  Why did they chose Cayuga Lake as their stronghold? To understand we have to look  at the history of Ospreys in New York and examine what attracts them to Cayuga’s  waters.  

Ospreys are predominately coastline dwellers and may not have bred this far inland  prior to European colonization and clearing of eastern forests. During the 18–19th  century, Ospreys were plentiful in New York City and on Long Island. According to  zoologist James E. DeKay’s 1844 NYS Bird survey, the Osprey “occurs in every part of  the State and breeds in the vicinity of fresh or salt water.” However, he was referring to  only about 30 birds—95% of the New York population bred around Long Island—and  may have been included the Adirondacks, where they still maintain a population. In the  early 1900s, Gardiner’s Island proximate to Long Island was reported to have 300  nests—the largest Osprey colony in the world. Scattered active nests were also 

1835 Map of New York City, a stronghold of Ospreys, courtesy of nycm.com. 

recorded in the lower Hudson River near New York City. In 1909, ornithologist Elton  Howard Eaton reported that Ospreys were no longer summer residents in the interior  counties of New York, except for in the Adirondacks, their traditional refuge. They were  becoming more rare each year, primarily from hunting and “the relentless persecution  [by] thoughtless tourists and campers.”  

1890s hunter, courtesy of Pinterest. 

Sadly, Osprey populations in the state continued to decrease after the turn of the 20th  century due to their conflicts with humans, but still large numbers remained along the 

coast. By 1909, the Osprey was observed as transients in the interior of NY. According  to Reed and Wright’s 1909 The Vertebrates of the Cayuga Lake Basin, N.Y., “Several  are seen every year during the summer months, but we have no evidence that they nest  

1935 view from Cornell of Cayuga Lake. 

within the [Cayuga Lake] basin.” By the 1930’s, Ospreys migrating across NYS had  further declined due to habitat loss and “ruthless hunters who shoot at any large or  unusual bird” (John Bull, 1985); however, populations continued to breed in the  Adirondacks and flourish on Long Island. In 1935, Charles Spiker wrote, “Attractive as  the Finger Lakes might seem for this species, the fish hawk is very rare, except during  migrations.”  

Osprey eggs with weak shells due to DDT, courtesy of wiki. 

By 1940, there were 496 Osprey pairs in the Long Island area. Rampant use of the  newly discovered pesticide DDT from the 1940’s to 1972 caused drastic declines in  Osprey populations along the east coast, nearly extirpating populations from Long  Island. DDT, a calcium inhibitor, accumulated in the food chain caused thinning and  breaking of raptor eggshells during incubation. By the mid-1970s, Osprey nest sites had  declined 98% to only 74 active nests in the Long Island area. Since the ban on DDT in 

NYS in 1971 and aided by human intervention, this once federally listed “Endangered  Species” recovered and expanded their range. In 1983, the Osprey was down-listed to  "threatened" status by the U.S. government. By 1999, there were 350 active nests around Long Island, and the Adirondack populations appear to have grown as well. 

Cayuga Lake, courtesy of Cayuga Nature Center. 

The comeback was slow in the beginning. The first sighting of an Osprey in the Finger  Lakes in the 20th century was reported by Montezuma National wildlife Refuge (MNWR) staff in 1974, but the bird didn’t stay.  

Five years later, three Ospreys were seen at MNWR, acting like they were looking for a  potential nest site. In 1980, an Osprey was seen flying along Six-Mile Creek in Ithaca.  

First Osprey pair nesting at Tschache Pool at MNWR, courtesy of MNWR.

Soon after, a pair nested on a platform in MNWR’s Tschache Pool representing the first  documented breeding Osprey pair in Central New York. This celebrated nest yielded  two fledglings and continued to produce young in subsequent years. From the 1980’s to  the 1990’s, the population increased in fits and starts, suffering many failed nesting  attempts until their breakthrough year of 1999 when nine Osprey breeding pairs  successfully nested in the MNWR complex on pylons (high tension powerline corridors)  and double-buck utility poles. (The double arms make a stable nest base.) After that the  population radiated to the southeast, colonizing 16 miles of the northeastern shore of  Cayuga Lake between the refuge and the town of Aurora by building nests on double buck utility poles. 

Osprey nesting on pylons outside of the MNWR, CE Cornell. 

Osprey nest supported by double buck utility pole, CE Cornell. 

In 2008, an employee at Lansing’s Milliken Power Station on Cayuga Lake witnessed  an Osprey nest on one of their pylons, but I was not permitted to enter the property. 

During the winter of 2009 it was lost in a winter storm. This purported nest was one of  the first known Osprey nests near the southern end of Cayuga Lake. 

To encourage more Ospreys to populate the southern end of the lake, a group of  volunteers including Bill Evans, Rhonda Roaring, David Gell, and NYSEG constructed a  nesting platform at Ithaca’s Allan Treman Marina State Park in the summer of 2009, which was claimed by Ospreys three years later. The next year, an Osprey pair nested 

2009 installation of Osprey platform at Allan Treman Marina State Park, courtesy of Ithaca Journal. 

Osprey platform at Allan Treman Marina, courtesy of Karel and Cindy Sedlacek.

Osprey nest at the Cargill Salt Mine in Lansing, CE Cornell. 

on a utility pole in the midst of the Cargill Salt mines in Lansing. Off season, the nest  caught fire, causing a power outage. NYSEG built a new nesting platform in the same  spot. A year or so later the pole was hit by a truck, but NYSEG promptly fixed the  situation and the nest remains active today. Since then, NYSEG crews have erected  over a dozen platforms around the southern end of the lake, most of which are now  occupied by breeding pairs.  

Osprey nest at Newman Golf Course on the Inlet, Ithaca, courtesy of Karel and Cindy Sedlacek.

After it’s slow start in the 1990’s, the Cayuga Lake Basin (including the MNWR wetland  complex) is now the home of an exploding Osprey population. The nine Osprey  breeding pairs in 1999 grew to 26 pairs in 2013. NYSEG put up platforms when they  had time and the population grew. Ospreys began nesting on pylons and suitable  double-buck utility poles around Cayuga Lake and to the east and west of MNWR  paralleling the Seneca River and Erie Canal.  

While the Cayuga Lake population grew, so did a small group of Ospreys nesting on  Seneca Lake, one at the former Seneca Army Depot and the rest attracted to fish at the  outfall to the Grenidge Power plant in Dresden. There are currently at least 18 pairs  nesting around Seneca Lake, three pairs on Canandaigua Lake, and one or two on  Owasco and Skaneateles Lakes. Today, this exponentially growing population in the  Finger Lakes has grown to over well over 165 breeding Osprey pairs. 

Eyes to the sky! 

Candace 

Candace E. Cornell 

Friends ofSaltPoint 

Lansing, NY 

Cayuga Lake Osprey Network 

NY cec222@gmail.com