The Mast-Head: Flight of the Osprey | The East Hampton Star

I am happy to report that a pair of ospreys are back on their accustomed spot at Pond o’ Pines on Napeague. This was no sure thing after the February blizzard finally toppled their precarious platform, overburdened as it had become by at least a decade of nest-building.

Osprey reuse their nests each year, adding sticks, dry seaweed, and the occasional scrap of plastic. With time, the piles can grow enormous. On Gardiner’s Island, where the birds are comfortable closer to the ground, one could see nests five feet high or more. By the end of last summer, the Pond o’ Pines nest had become so heavy that the days were numbered for the man-made supports underneath it.

After it collapsed and the snow had melted somewhat, I walked out over the marsh for a close look. The debris spread over a 10-foot-wide area. I was thankful that it had not gone down while eggs or chicks were inside.

Not too far up Lazy Point Road, there is an empty smaller nest in a dead pine. My guess is that a younger bird started it this spring, but having failed to attract a mate, moved on. That they know how to balance the first sticks by instinct alone strikes me as a true miracle of nature.

Having spent the better part of 60 years noting the comings and goings of the Promised Land and Pond o’ Pines osprey, I feel as if I know them. That, of course, is anthropomorphizing. I can no more read their minds than predict the future. Still, I have learned something of their habits -- where they prefer to eat in quiet away from the nest, for example. And I listen to what sounds like joy when the newest ones fledge and take their first flights into the sky.