Date: 3/19/26 2:54 pm From: Dave Nutter (via CAYUGABIRDS-L list) <CAYUGABIRDS-L...> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] At least 1 Osprey is definitely back in the Cayuga Basin
Sunday March 15 produced 3 eBird reports from the Montezuma Wetlands area, but considering that Osprey was at that time rare in Seneca County, the details were scant. Maybe there was an Osprey in the area, but it's hard to be sure.
In the Mucklands a brown-bodied bird with a brown & white striped head was seen sitting in a field, which is typically what Bald Eagles do, not Ospreys. The observer only succeeded in getting photos of an immature Bald Eagle, so that report languishes.
Over Mays Point Pool a bird "identified by W shaped wings" (I think they meant M) was accepted as Osprey even though other birds such as gulls and Great Blue Herons fly with their wings bowed.
On Route 5&20 between Routes 89 on the west and Route 90 on the east near the Montezuma NWR Visitor Center entrance there is a series of 7 Osprey nests on big metal pylons for electric wires. It's a fast, busy, and frankly dangerous road, so birders rarely stop to take a careful look or take a photo. On the 15 an observer reported an Osprey somewhere along there, but because the report, made afterward from home, accidentally used their home as the observation site, that eBird chucked that report. The next day a very good photographer reported an Osprey somewhere in that block, but did not include a photo. The report was accepted by eBird, which surprised me. Twice this week I have seen a large raptor perched on or near an Osprey platform, but each time the bird turned out to be a Red-tailed Hawk.
Then late in the afternoon on March 18 Michael Sprintz spent 2 1/2 hours at Stewart Park in Ithaca and included in the eBird report an excellent photograph of an Osprey perched on a branch. The photo showed its small dark hooked bill, and its clean white belly, as well as the white head with a high-contrast dark mask, and uniformly dark brown back & wings. That ain't no eagle.
Now that we have a Cayuga Basin 2026 First Record and I can relax about ID details. Next comes the question of when which nests will be reclaimed. I went to Stewart Park this morning, and near the platform at the northeast corner of the park sat a big raptor - one of those Red-tailed Hawks (Just check carefully, folks!). Eventually I found a/the Osprey perched high in a tree on the north edge of Renwick Wildwood above the Lagoon. I think the Osprey was keeping an eye on the platform located just beyond the west end of the suspension bridge over Fall Creek. I'm not sure that's a definite claim yet, but that's where I'd bet.
Check any and all Osprey platforms and nests in our area over the next couple weeks. If you see a real Osprey on one of them write a note here describing where that nest/platform is located. Candace Cornell, who has studied the Ospreys' spread in our area, and Karen Edelstein, who has mapped many nests & platforms, would like to know. Maybe lots of folks will find it cheering.
