Susan Kirby

May and June are great times to see ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), those wonderful seaside raptors that love to dive into water to catch fish and nest high in trees or on platforms. I have seen ospreys at Marine Park (Brooklyn), Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and Broad Channel Park (Queens), Mount Loretto and Great Kills (Staten Island), and Lido Beach Passive Nature Area (Long Island). They nest in May, and by June have little ospreys sticking their heads out of the nest. In July and August, you can see the youngsters learning to fish, and see them keeping their eyes on their parents in case there is food to be had. There have been osprey flyovers at Central Park, but I've never seen one land there. They have a very distinctive flight, which you can see in the video below.

Marine Park Saltmarsh Nature Trail

The ospreys using the nest at Marine Park are one of the first couples to arrive in the early spring. (See below for more photos.)

This slideshow shows the Marine Park osprey couple and their chicks, 2021. There are photos showing the kids trying out their wings, and their “hovering” as they strengthen their wing muscles.

Long Island Osprey Kids

I follow three nests on Long Island near Nickerson Beach, one in the Lido Beach Passive Nature Area, one just down the road on Lido Boulevard near the Marina and the water tower, and the third, beginning in 2021, on a platform near the ballfield in the Nickerson Beach area.

These ospreys were seen on three nests at Lido Beach Passive Nature Area, Long Island, on July 13, 2023.

This slideshow features ospreys and their offspring from the Lido Beach Passive Nature Area and Lido Boulevard (near the water tower) nests on Long Island, photographed June 5, 2023.

The ospreys in this gallery slide show are kids and adults from the nest near the water tower at the marina and the nests in the Lido Beach Passive Nature Area. There was one new nest this year on the nature trail, with three kids. All the 2023 nests seem to have had three little ones. On July 6, on a visit to the nature area, I got to see a fledgling on the ground!

This slideshow shows the 2021 babies at Lido Beach Passive Nature Area, the marina nest near the water tower, and the nest near Lido Boulevard in the Nickerson Beach area.

Staten Island Osprey Kids

There are so many osprey nests on Staten Island. I follow one nest near Mount Loretto Unique Area on Page Avenue. In 2023, there were three babies, in 2019 there were two babies, and two babies in 2020 and 2021.

This slideshow features ospreys seen in 2023 on Staten Island.

This slideshow features the Page Avenue nest in 2021, plus ospreys seen north of Hylan in the North Mount Loretto State Forest and on the beach at Mount Loretto Unique Area. Mama Osprey on Page Avenue starts screaming whenever she sees me. Even though I can’t get that close to the nest, I think the fact that I stop makes me a threat.

They’re Back at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge!

I was able to check the two nests at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge this spring (2020), and have seen ospreys at both nests, so we hope for lots of little ospreys getting bigger! Lady Di rules the Cross Bay Boulevard nest in the refuge. She sees me and starts screaming at me, no matter how far away I am. (I asked her once what her name is, and she said, “Die, Human, Die!” So, Lady Di.)

Here is a slideshow with Lady Di in 2023, beginning April 21.

The photos in this slideshow were taken at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge on March 25, 2021 and May 31, 2021. Lady Di is back, with not an ounce more love for me than before.

Lady Di mates with her mate, JBWR, June 3, 2020. Lady Di on the nest, June 3. Lady Di giving me the staredown, May 27. The nest at JBWR behind the nature center, June 3.

Unfortunately, the New York City Parks Department has decided to “save” the wetlands at Sunset Cove Park down at Broad Channel American Park by bulldozing the trees that had been the perching place for the pair of ospreys that had nested there, so that nest, though once again active, is very flimsy and the kids sort of in a precarious position if the wind gets very strong. It is not a pleasant place to visit, so my one trip may be my only one in 2020.

The osprey giving me the evil eye is Mama Osprey at Jamaica Bay, the nest over Cross Bay Boulevard in the refuge. Her “baby” has the huge mouth open and still wants to be fed in the nest. The shots in this slide show were taken August 3, 2019.

On June 29, I visited the nest in JBWR on Cross Bay Boulevard. The Mama Osprey there really doesn’t like me, and when she sees me she chatters and flies around and really lets me know her opinion of my intrusion (believe me, I am really far away from the nest, but she doesn’t care). On the 29th, I saw her feeding one baby, although on the 25th, I saw her with two babies. It is possible one baby has fledged, since I saw three ospreys over the West Pond closer to this nest than the nest nearer the nature center.

I saw both ospreys at the nest closest to the nature center at JBWR on April 6 (too far away for good shots), and I think both ospreys at the nest closest to Cross Bay north of the center. In the first two photos, the osprey was on a utility pole above the nest. The second two photos were taken from the sidewalk on the other side of the nest, and could be the same osprey or the mate. The nest has some trash in it that probably didn’t come from Ikea!

Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature Trail

There is one very active osprey nest at Marine Park in Brooklyn. This is a wonderful New York City park, and the nest is well set back from the trail, so is very protected. Both parents are so attentive.

These photos are from the nest in 2020, the first from May 26 and the next two from June 7.

Ospreys Around the City

This Filming the Feathers video was shot at a nest at Marine Park, two nests at Jamaica Bay and another nest at Broad Channel Park. Music is by Giuseppe Maria Cambini, Wind Quintets Nos. 1, 2 and 3, performed by Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet (obtained from MusOpen.org, a royalty-free music source). One of the nests at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge has two babies, which you'll see sticking their heads up and flapping their little wings.

The first osprey I saw was at Marine Park in July 2015. I didn't venture out to see others until May and June 2017.