Date: 3/23/26 10:02 am From: Dave Nutter (via CAYUGABIRDS-L list) <CAYUGABIRDS-L...> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Regional central NYS Osprey overview
Looking at the eBird map of Osprey reports in central NYS, it is clear we are still in the very early stage of their return, but there were several additional sightings on 22 March. Here's a summary from south to north of the swath of NYS from the Southern Tier adjacent to the Finger Lakes to Lake Ontario.
In Chemung County on 14 March Jill Rogan photographed the first 2026 eBird Osprey record in Elmira along the Chemung River. On 22 March she reported an Osprey perched over a pond several miles to the west.
As Dave Nicosia reported, on 22 March he found the first Broome County eBird Osprey along the Otselic River at the north end of the reservoir in Upper Lisle, and this bird was reported a couple more times.
In Ithaca on 22 March there were more reports of a single Osprey at the south end of Cayuga Lake, first by Kevin Packard, who photographed one eating a fish while perched in a tree on the west side of Taughannock Blvd (NYS-89) near the nest platform north of the maintenance building on the west side of AH Treman State Marine Park. Later an Osprey was anonymously reported perched on that same nest platform. This is the first Ithaca report I've seen of an Osprey at a nest. Last year this nest was the first to be occupied of the several nests around AH Treman, Cass Park, and the NW corner of Newman Golf Course.
In Canandaigua in Ontario County on 22 March, Kyle Gage photographed an Osprey perched on a light pole along Airport Rd, the first eBird report in a several county area.
In Waterloo on 22 March, 6 people in a group of 14 reported to eBird an Osprey apparently at or near the Seneca Meadows trash landfill, without any comment as to what it was doing.
As I mentioned, on 22 March Dave Kennedy photographed an Osprey on a nest along NYS-5/US-20 near the Montezuma NWR entrance. Presumably this same bird was reported several times later in the day either along the highway or from the refuge Visitor Center area.
In Wayne County on 22 March Carmen Gumina made the first 2 eBird reports east of the Village of Savannah in the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, each of a single Osprey, first at the DEC's Railroad Rd marshes, and later at the Montezuma NWR Sandhill Crane Unit along the SE end of Van Dyne Spoor Rd. He did not say whether he thought they were likely the same or different birds at these fairly close locations, nor whether they were associated with particular nests.
The first Onondaga County eBird record was a few days earlier on 18 March, photographed by Andrew Mosher at Onondaga Lake Park "flying towards the nest". Presumably the same Osprey was photographed again on the 21st perched on what looks like a communications antenna tower (perhaps the nest site?) by Thomas McKay, and reported without comment on 2 other checklists.
Farther north on 19 March Kayla & Robert Fisk reported to eBird an Osprey, without comment, along the Oneida River east of Phoenix.
Still farther north in Oswego County at the Derby Hill Hawk Watch, the official counter, David Brown, photographed the first Osprey of the year on 22 March, the only raptor he saw migrating that mostly rainy day. This is the only eBird report of Osprey along Lake Ontario's south shore as of this writing.
That leave a whole lot of nests yet to be occupied in the Cayuga Basin and beyond, and a whole lot of migrants to pass through.
This wraps up the area which I tend to look at in eBird. There are a few eBird Osprey reports in western NYS and nearby southern Ontario Province, some along the Hudson Valley, and a ton along the Atlantic coast.
