Baby Osprey Rescued In Southampton

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — It was a story with a happy ending as officers with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation rescued distressed osprey chicks in Southampton recently.

According to the NYSDEC, on June 24, Environmental Conservation Officer Ike Bobseine responded to a call concerning the chicks on a Southampton town beach.

ECO Bobseine found that the platform that the adult ospreys had chosen to nest on had broken off during the previous night’s windstorm, a release from the NYSDEC said.

While nearly 80 percent grown and fully feathered, the chicks had not yet fledged and sat in the tidal marsh well below the high water mark; ECO Bobseine sustained repeated, low-altitude attacks by the two adult ospreys long enough to remove the young chicks from the marsh.

Southampton Town bay constables also helped Bobseine place the chicks in the low branches of a nearby cedar tree, the NYSDEC said.

The following morning, ECO Katie Jakaub returned with ECO Bobseine and found the osprey chicks back on the ground; the ECOs constructed a temporary nesting platform in a nearby dead tree, the NYSDEC said.

The chicks were placed on the platform, where they were soon seen being tended to by their parents, the NYSDEC reported.

A small crowd applauded the officers for their efforts.

Photo courtesy New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.