Posted on May 22, 2025 by Sam Gutter
Every year, around St. Patrick’s Day, the ospreys complete their long journeys from South America and return to Cape Cod. We never tire of watching these magnificent “fishing eagles” hover in place in the wind over the water, fold their wings and dive – arising with fish in their talons with remarkable consistency. Deftly re-aligning the fish to point head-first for aerodynamic efficiency, the birds return to their nests to feed the chicks.
Ospreys are territorial and fish near their nests. “Our” ospreys ply the Upper Cape waters of Buzzards Bay, unfortunately misnamed by the early European settlors, who mistook osprey for small buzzards. (“Osprey Bay” would have sounded so much nicer.) Ospreys are everywhere here on Cape Cod, announcing their presence with distinctively loud, percussive chirps.
It wasn’t always so. During the scourge of the pesticide DDT in the 1970s, the osprey population was decimated, with only one or two nesting pairs in all of Cape Cod. Now, in our small town of Falmouth (year-round population of 33,000), we host more than 140 nesting pairs.
Ospreys build their stick nests on high perches. Unfortunately, that sometimes includes electrical utility poles, leading to fires that end badly both for the birds and the transmission network.
Enter the Osprey Project. Led by local bird photographer and naturalist Kevin Friel and his partner Barbara Schneider, in close cooperation with Eversource, our local energy provider, this non-profit has the singular mission of providing a safe haven for nesting ospreys. As soon as a local resident spots an osprey nest under construction on a utility pole, local volunteers contact the Osprey Project, which in turn reports it to Eversource. The power company removes the nest and installs a deterrent shield. That has to happen quickly, because once eggs are laid, the nest can’t be disturbed. At the same time, Osprey Project volunteers, aided by local construction companies, erect a stand-alone platform near the original nest. The ospreys object loudly, but ultimately find their way to the new platform.
Everyone wins: the ospreys get new real estate with a view, Eversource avoids power disruptions, and all of us get more opportunities to watch these amazing avians grace the skies over the beautiful waters of Cape Cod. This is, quite simply, local environmental conservation at its best.