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Osprey population soars on Long Island

osprey
Matt MacGillivray from Toronto, Canada
/
Wikimedia Commons

The osprey has become an icon of the Long Island and Connecticut shorelines. The bird of prey was endangered just 40 years ago, but now, osprey populations are thriving due to conservation efforts.

The so-called "fish hawks" have rebounded on the East End of Long Island with over 350 nesting sites, an increase of over 200% in just a few years.

"It’s a very significant population increase," said Bob DeLuca, president of the Group for the East End, a wildlife conservation group based in Southold. "We'd like to think that that's a relationship between some improvements in the health of the surrounding environment and also the birds’ slow return over time just from getting the pesticides out of the environment [and] putting up some platforms.”

DDT, a pesticide that's been linked to kidney and liver failure in animals, had decimated the osprey population back before the U.S. banned its use in 1972, according to the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Now, DeLuca said the osprey population has almost completely recovered.

“It's just starting to be more of a natural system for that bird and that’s really important, and the good news story about people actually helping when it comes to environmental change and having a positive outcome,” DeLuca said.

He credited the osprey comeback to public awareness campaigns, a partnership with PSEG Long Island to keep the birds away from utility poles, and an increase in bunker fish — one of the osprey’s favorite foods.

Desiree reports on the lives of military service members, veterans, and their families for WSHU as part of the American Homefront project. Born and raised in Connecticut, she now calls Long Island home.