Environment

Reader photos: Ospreys return to the North Fork

Cutchogue environmentalist Paul Stoutenburgh, who died last year at age 92, was a longtime advocate of ospreys.

For more than 50 years, Mr. Stoutenburgh, with the help of his wife, Barbara, contributed “Focus on Nature” columns to The Suffolk Times and News-Review. Following are excerpts from what the Stoutenburghs referred to as the “Osprey Diaries.”

ON THE OSPREY’S RETURN

March 1983
“March 21 is the target date I’ve always associated with the return of the osprey. Give or take a couple of days.”

ON THE EFFECTS OF DDT

March 1983
“It was shortly after World War II that these great masses of fish started to decline. Also at that time the world had thought it had found a miracle pesticide called DDT. It was used liberally almost everywhere, particularly in our marshes to kill mosquitoes. But like so many things that have not been thoroughly researched and had the test of time, it created a nightmare of problems. The DDT was picked up by those very same microorganisms in our creeks, passed on to the killies and then to the flounders and then to the ospreys, resulting in a marked decrease in eggshell thickness to such an extent that when the bird sat on her eggs to incubate, they would crack and the embryo would be lost.”

ON BUILDING NESTING PLATFORMS

March 1983
“Besides the lack of bunkers, the general area on the mainland of Long Island has changed vastly since the early days. Most of our creeks and bayfront have homes along them with man’s many activities. Even the big, old trees that once were found housing the big nests year after year seem to be missing. That is why we are putting up osprey platforms in areas where man’s activities are minimal — out on marshes, sand spits and other unsettled spots.”

April 1986
“Most of the nests have worked out quite well and the birds have adapted easily. A new nest we put up last week had a pair of ospreys on it within four days, and they were soon busy building their stick nest that they’ll return to year after year.”

April 2007
“Dead men (2x6s or 2x4s) are placed in the hole in both directions to support the pole. When turkey wire is attached to the platform, sticks and branches are tied on as an incentive for the ospreys to build their nest.”