Osprey Settle On New Long Island Platform: 'Oscar Is Home!'

NORTH FORK, NY — Oscar, an osprey who found himself engaged in a futile effort to build a nest on a pole in Mattituck recently, has found his happy ending: A new platform built just for him after the tireless efforts of one local woman — and PSEG Long Island, who came to his rescue.

One woman's single-mined mission to help the osprey in ended in the new home for the majestic hawk: Tracy Raynor, who lives in Cutchogue, said that as she drove up and down Locust Avenue, sometimes as much as four times a day in the past weeks, she saw an osprey trying to build a nest on an ivy-covered pole.

"He was flapping his wings, gathering sticks, and going into the ivy," Raynor said. "I thought, 'He's going to tire himself out trying to build that nest.'"

But now, she's driven by in recent days and seen him, as well as another osprey, happily perched atop a brand-new platform built to help him.

And it's all thanks to her caring heart.

Being concerned, Raynor, reached out to PSEG Long Island and spoke to Lisanne Altmann from the wildlife department, "a wonderful woman" who helped immensely, she said.

Raynor was told that PSEG Long Island sent someone to see if erecting a platform was warranted. And, although it was a Verizon pole, not a PSEG pole, Verizon agreed that the platform could be built — and PSEG went forward with constructing the structure.

Elizabeth Flagler, a media representative for PSEG Long Island, said an environmentalist explained that since it is after nesting season, "the bird must be a young bird practicing its nesting skills."

She added that PSEG Long Island has built and/or relocated platforms for more than 30 locations, in an ongoing mission to help the osprey and prevent power outages for customers.

Watching the platform be built meant a great deal to Raynor.

"I'm so excited," Raynor said. So much so that she ran out of work when she heard PSEG was at the site, to see her efforts to help the osprey come to fruition. The osprey was watching, too, from a few yards away, never flying off.

And when her father told her that two osprey had settled on the platform, she also hurried to see their next chapter unfold.

"It's an extraordinary circumstance," she said.

Amy Di Leo, of PSEG Long Island, was also in Mattituck on Tuesday as the platform was built.

"The circumstances are a little different," she said. Normally, she explained, osprey try to build on cross arms, sometimes leading to power outages and unfortunate endings for the osprey themselves.

The platform built was large so the osprey can bring all their sticks and leaves, everything necessary to build a nest, she said.

Also, she added, osprey like to nest at the highest point, so the platform was built a bit higher than the pole had been.

Surveying the results, Di Leo added, "This is so great."

PSEG Long Island, she said, has a dedicated wildlife team that helps not just osprey but turtles, bald eagles and other animals.

And, she said, there are two osprey cams in Patchogue and Oyster Bay that residents can watch 24/7 at the PSEG Long Island website, with an eye toward educating schoolchildren and others.

The return of the osprey to Long Island is a reason to celebrate, Di Leo said. "They call the osprey an 'indicator species,' which means when they start dying off, we know something bad is going on in the environment. For the osprey to be coming back is a really good thing for the area — it shows we're all doing really good things for the environment."