The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) Recovery – How It Came About

“There are three men responsible for the return of the osprey to the Thousand Islands,” is a phrase I say repeatedly as a bit of a tease to my wife and some friends, as we boat through the islands seeing ospreys just about everywhere now. There is an old saying that “if you don’t blow your own horn, nobody else will,” and so while it’s just a tease about the three men, there is considerable truth to it. I guess I drive everyone crazy with my comment.

Back in the early spring of 1992, when I was working for Parks Canada, I was approached by Dr. Pete Ewins of Environment Canada. Dr. Ewins was a bit perplexed by the rather slow recovery of ospreys to the Thousand Islands, following the end of DDT and other toxic organochlorine pesticide use in the early 1970’s. He believed very few natural nest sites were available to ospreys, following the progression of human habitation and recreational activities through the 1970’s and 1980’s and that this could be a factor. Large dead trees with open tops were readily cut down for safety reasons, firewood, or aesthetics. He felt artificial nest platforms could boost an osprey recovery – just as we have all witnessed since 1992. Having artificial nest platforms handy for contaminants research would also be a plus for scientific monitoring of the health of the species and the environment.

Presented here is how the Thousand Islands went from two documented nesting pairs in 1992 to what now seems like a pair of birds in a nest every 100 – 300 meters! I draw upon both my personal experience and a small report published in 1995 by Dr. Ewins, John MacKenzie, of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and myself – thus the “three men responsible.”

In May of 1992, I flew with Dr. Ewins over the entire Thousand Islands region looking for nesting ospreys and identifying suitable sites for artificial nest platform placement. Forty potential nest sites, such as small rocky islets close to shallow water bays with minimal direct human disturbance, were noted between Kingston and Mallorytown Landing on the Ontario side of the River. One nesting pair of ospreys was found on the US side of the River in the old derelict Third Brother Shoal navigation tower below Ironsides Island, and another pair were observed foraging along the Thousand Islands Parkway below Rockport. Fish prey were carried north over the Parkway but observation from a fixed wing aircraft, rather than a helicopter, may have prevented us from actually locating the nest. Reports of a few other foraging ospreys previously had been relayed to us by locals, but no other birds were observed on our flight.

After the flight reconnaissance, Research Scientist Dr. Ewins, Biologist John MacKenzie, and myself, a National Park Warden, teamed up to identify landowners of targeted sites and to seek support for the project. Fortunately for me, there was avid support from management at my National Park work site, enabling me to work with Dr. Ewins. At least six landowners were keen on the idea of having an osprey nesting platform on their property, in the stretch of the river between Gananoque and Mallorytown Landing. With further project assistance from several sponsors, six platforms were erected in the fall of 1992. The platforms were wooden pallets with reinforced sides, mounted on hydro poles, which had been secured to the rock bed with metal brackets and guy wires. The following year, after one platform had been removed due to suspected interference with common tern nesting, three of the remaining five platforms were occupied by ospreys, who produced eight large young by mid July (which is a production rate of 2.7 young per occupied nest). In 1994, all five platforms were occupied, with a 1.5 young per occupied nest rate, and have remained to date as great production sites for osprey young. Generally, if an osprey population is producing a mean of 0.8 young per occupied nest per annum, then it is thought likely to be able to maintain itself.

Dr. Ewins, an Environment Canada assistant, and I accessed the platforms to “process” the young, large chicks for the first two years. Chicks were measured, weighed, banded, and blood sampled. Getting the birds down from a 10 meter (about 33 foot) pole was an experience I will never forget. Dr. Ewins had modified a huge aluminum extension ladder by adding a large aluminum roller at the top rung. Three of us would start raising the heavy ladder at the base of the pole. When getting above our heads, a tough push would allow the ladder to continue on a path up the pole due to the roller and minimal friction resistance. Two of us would man long rope stabilizers attached to the ladder out to the sides of the pole as the ladder drew near the base of the platform. On command we would pull the ladder away from the pole to just beyond the underside edge of the platform while Dr. Ewins, sitting on the rock surface at the ladder’s base and timing it all perfectly, would yank the rope to extend the ladder to above the upper edge of the platform – just as we relaxed our ropes to allow the ladder to flop against the side of the platform box. Thank goodness it was Dr. Ewins who went up that ladder to retrieve the young birds, placing them in a pillow case, as adults swooped-in for a strike (hard hats were mandatory)!

At ground level, the young were removed from the pillow case and placed on the ground. As Dr. Ewins explained to me, the young ospreys have known nothing to date other than the confines of the platform box, so they did not make any attempt to move away with their new found freedom at ground level. This was also the case, I later discovered, with handling young bald eagles, but due to their large talons, for safety reasons, an eaglet’s feet were never, ever, left unattended. Although I was never privy to the contaminant research of the blood samples taken from the ospreys, I do know that blood samples taken from a pair of young eaglets near Ivy Lea in 2004 showed the lowest contaminant levels in 36 eagle nests sampled by Environment Canada from the Thousand Islands along the lake shores to Lake St. Claire near Detroit/Windsor. A tiny, generally unknown, good news story for us here downriver in the Thousand Islands.

Although our work with the juvenile ospreys was disturbing to the adults, by this point in their chick's life the adults had invested enough in their success that they would not abandon them. When the research ended, the osprey adults immediately assumed control of the nest and care of the juveniles.

In 1999, we saw a pair of bald eagles take over one of the original six osprey platforms. The Thousand Islands now had its first bald eagle nest since 1937. The eagles continued success here in the islands . . . well, that's another good news story!

Through the remainder of the 1990’s and beyond, the parent birds and young Thousand Islands ospreys are believed to have migrated to Central and South America for the winter, with the young birds returning to nest in our area after a 2 – 3 year period of maturing. With a noticeable lack of large dead trees with open tops in the Thousand Islands, and artificial platforms already claimed, these new mature birds returned to our area to nest and chose convenient sites such as chimney/roof-line crotches or chimney tops, and River navigation towers. This became an increasing problem for cottagers. Where I used to get very positive calls about new nest sitings, I began getting complaints about ospreys being everywhere. (I await the future calls about mute swans!) The increased nesting of ospreys also became a problem for the Transport Canada navigation section of the Canadian Coast Guard, particularly in the Canadian Middle Channel. Nests built in navigation towers meant maintenance staff were harassed by diving adults and lights might become obscured from piled nest material.

The Leeds County Stewardship Council (LCSC) in Ontario, which had been installing some osprey platforms inland throughout the County, engaging communities and landowners, teamed up with the Canadian Coast Guard and Parks Canada to address the navigation light issue. At the time, I was also a member of the LCSC. The LCSC worked with local high schools to have students construct platforms as conservation projects. Duane Struthers, Garnet Baker, and John McLeod of the LCSC were instrumental in implementing the Council’s efforts to erect many platforms inland throughout Leeds County and then later in and along the St. Lawrence River, in addition to Dr. Ewins’ original platforms. These men, along with countless other LCSC volunteers, are to be commended for their work to increase nesting opportunities for ospreys in inland waterways in Leeds County and later nesting successes in the River.

For new platform projects on the River, the navigation section of the Coast Guard provided one of their large maintenance ships (or “buoy boats” as they’re often called) with an extension boom so that poles could easily be installed. Here’s a shout out of gratitude to the crew of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Caribou Isle for their assistance. Thus, new artificial platforms began springing up near the affected navigation towers as offset nesting alternatives for Osprey.

Threatened common terns were eventually usurped by nesting ring-billed gulls, at one of the original six sites where a platform had been removed for the terns, and so the platform was reconstructed. Ring-billed gulls were not deterred by ospreys and continued ground nesting at the site, but terns would no longer nest here. Ospreys soon began successfully raising young on the reconstructed platform. As these and all the other young birds matured in the south and eventually returned to nest in the Thousand Islands, the osprey recovery was well underway. Competition for new nest sites meant that birds were now building just about anywhere as they returned in spring in increasing numbers, such as in the tops of conifers and around cottages much closer to human activity.

In 2011, I recruited the volunteer assistance of Steven D'Angeli of New Jersey, who was attending a college in New Hampshire and looking for a subject for an environmental monitoring paper for school. Over two days, we travelled extensively on a pair of personal watercraft among the Canadian islands from Trident Yacht Club, in the Bateau Channel, to below Mallorytown Landing, counting osprey nests and young. We also took note of nests on the Canadian mainland within sight of the Thousand Islands Parkway. Fifty nests were counted, 43 of which were occupied and seven of which were totally destroyed by a recent violent wind storm.

Since the 2011 census, I would estimate that there are between 100 and 200 nests in the Thousand Islands. Some may guess it seems like there are that many on both the New York and Ontario sides of the River. From two nests in 1992 to possibly over 200 nests in the region, wow, that's a recovery story!

My real objective in this article is to give credit to Dr. Peter Ewins, formerly of the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada, for his vision that an artificial platform program could very well kick-start the nesting return of the osprey in the islands. This successful return of the osprey and other species and their successful reproduction comes after a greater Great Lakes basin crash from the use of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides. There are always new pressures on a healthy Thousand Islands ecosystem and we who love this area, who live or vacation here, need to stay vigilant and aware of significant changes we may be making. A healthy, diverse ecosystem is good for plant life, wildlife, and for us.

By Bud Andress, Hill Islands, ON

Bud Andress is well known in the Islands. He is the former Canadian Co-chairman of the St. Lawrence Bald Eagle Working Group and former Co-Chairman of the Raptor Working Group of eastern Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River, an international organization devoted to the better understanding and monitoring of the status of our region's great raptors. He is a  retired Parks Canada employee where he conducted research and monitoring of various flora and fauna in the national park and the Thousand Islands region and has co-authored many published papers on ospreys, common terns, and bald eagles. He spent many years monitoring the Park's rare flora, including the Park's symbol – the pitch pine (Pinus rigida). In September 2008, Bud was awarded "2008 Keeper of the Islands” by 1000 Islands Gananoque Chamber of Commerce. Also that year TI Life team member, Kim Lunman wrote about Bud in Eagles in the Islands.  Bud also wrote Where Have All the Shorelines Gone? for our e-zine in March, 2008, and  The Eagle Watch Update November 2010 and Flag Etiquette in the 1000 Islands in June, 2012.

Comments

What a treat as a follow-up to your presentation earlier this month. I believe your story is as relevant today as it was when the recovery process was in its infant stages. There are still areas where these magnificent birds are still being poisoned. Thank you for sharing this success story! Karen Wand