The Osprey of West Meadow Beach

West Meadow Beach and Creek is the Spring and Summer time home and nesting area for many different types of migratory birds, including the majestic Osprey. There is a platform on a pole about halfway down trustees road that is worth admiring. Each year a mating pair of Osprey return to that very same nest after spending a warm winter down in southern regions of the Caribbean and South America. The pair does not migrate together, or spend the winter months together, but they do mate for life. There is also a platform on the Old Field Farm and a new nest near the parking lot. The air is filled with their sprawling wings and pleasant chirps.  

The Osprey arrive in March and spend the early springtime building up their nest. Both the male and female work together to forage for twigs, cord grass and even seaweed to create a huge heap that will conserve heat and protect the soon to be laid eggs.  

The female will stay in the nest to incubate and protect the eggs while the male will hunt for fish for the pair, and later the family. The eggs will hatch in 35-43 days and the hatchlings will learn to fly about 8-10 weeks after that. 

Coastal life is not easy, but these fish hawk, raptor birds of prey have special adaptations that enable them to inhabit coasts all around the world. The brackish inlets of the South Shore and the estuary of Long Island Sound on the North Shore are bountiful breeding grounds for our avian friends the Osprey.