An osprey was photographed on a nesting platform on March 22 along the Indian River in Milford. Photo by Tim Chaucer.
As the swallows return to Capistrano, the ospreys return the third week of March each year to the nesting platforms along the Indian River in Milford. Ospreys were seen March 21 and photographed by Tim Chaucer, director of the marine biology, bird ID and archaeology camps of the Milford Marine Institute, Inc.
In 1985 the Milford Marine Institute invited Greg Chasko of what was then the state Department of Environmental Protection – now the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection – to inspect the Indian River to evaluate the likelihood that ospreys would return to manmade platforms if they were raised in the salt marshes along the Indian River, commonly called Gulf Pond. He gave the go-ahead and platforms were installed.
In 1989, the Milford’s 350th, ospreys were seen on the platforms but scared away when cannon booms from the HMS Rose and USS Providence exchanged blank fire off Milford Harbor to commemorate the city’s founding.
Ospreys nicknamed Ossie and Harriet returned to nest the next year and hatched three chicks.
Ospreys have continued to return from the southern US and Central America where they winter every year since 1990 to the platforms, where they build large nests made of sticks. Dozens of chicks have hatched successfully since then, and presumably 2022 will be no exception.
The Milford Marine Institute chose the osprey as its logo in 1983 because this fish-eating hawk best links the avian world with the marine world. This is the 39th year the institute has operated its marine, bird and Native American camps in conjunction with the Milford Recreation Department.
Call 203-874-4000 or email Tim Chaucer at tchaucer@msn.com more information.