In 2018 as a final project with the Trustees of Reservations summer youth program we constructed the Osprey platform you see today. We installed the platform with DCR ecology staff , DCR operations staff, and the summer youth staff. We had a few birds land on the platform that first summer, but it was already after the breeding season. The Following spring (2019) a young pair of Ospreys, amazed by their luck of finding a new affordable house in East Boston, took up residence on the platform. That first season the young birds did not really know what they were doing, like most adolescents. The pair didn’t do a great job at mating, or sitting on eggs, and ultimately were not successful in hatching any of their eggs.
In April of 2020 with another year of life under their belts our birds returned to the nest. After some nesting upkeep, the birds laid 3 eggs. Much to our amazement the pair was able to raise and fledge 3 chicks in the summer of 2020. Dave Rimmer from Essex County Greenbelt came out and banded the chicks just before the birds were able to fly. It was a season with happy ending as sometimes breeding seasons as we had learned the year prior to do not go as planned.
In December of 2020, Vice president of The Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, Kannan Thiruvengadam and myself discussed the idea of installing a nest camera. We were in the thick of Covid, and the Friends of Belle Isle Marsh thought that a camera could provide local schools and the community at large an outlet to view nature from the current confines of covid restrictions. With the help of an online educational grant from the City of Boston, some funds from the Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, and some technical advice from Dave at Greenbelt the camera system was purchased.
After lugging a ton of equipment into the marsh and constructing a 16 foot camera mounting platform, and about 2 weeks of Kannan talking to every employee at Verizon, our solar powered camera system was finally operational.
While the camera has been nothing but exciting, it also allowed us to watch the initial failure of the first clutch of eggs. Reviewing the camera footage we were able to see that the birds accidently covered and broke their own eggs trying to built up the nest. While that was very disappointing, the week following this incident has left us somewhat optimistic. The pair is copulating and seemingly looks like they are going to try to re-nest. Ospreys this far north are not well known for trying to re-nest as their window for success is quite limited. However, we all have our fingers crossed for some more eggs and hopefully some adorable chicks. Stay tuned.