This is a follow up to yesterday’s post featuring nest building Osprey.  This was prize construction material gleaned from the shoreline in New Jersey.

When I was in college I wrote a report on the comeback of the Osprey (“fish hawk”) in the State of Pennsylvania.  Back in the early 1980’s, the Osprey was placed on the threatened species list due to exposure from DDT which suppressed their eggs from hatching.   After the sale and use of DDT was banned, the Osprey started to make a comeback.  To be removed from the threatened species list, there must be a minimum of 50 nests in the state and 10 nests in each of the four watershed-based population clusters, which include the upper Delaware, lower Delaware, upper Ohio-Beaver, upper and lower Susquehanna.  Artificial nest platforms like this one are placed near water to encourage nest building.  In this photo, the Osprey is bringing a large piece of grass into the nest.  It was huge and he/she flew quite a distance to retrieve it and bring it back.  The two Osprey then spent a while rearranging to see where it looked best in their nest!  I was very excited to have had the opportunity to see and photograph the birds that I wrote about so long ago.