Osprey Family Takes Up Residence at Noroton Yacht Club

Just in time for the summer months, the Noroton Yacht Club has added a new family to its ranks. The only problem? Its members seem intent on occupying the main pier until they migrate south for the winter.

The first signs of this unusual family's arrival came in early March, when club captain Jeff Eng noticed a pile of sticks accumulating on the club's largest pier. Eng, who remembered seeing a similar formation the year before, soon realized what was happening: a pair of ospreys were trying to settle on the 150-foot structure.

The birds are a common sight along the Eastern Seaboard, recognizable by their brown plumage and undersides of mostly pure white. Fully grown, ospreys boast wingspans of 4-6 feet. They can be found in every continent except Antarctica. 

Because ospreys' diet consists mainly of fish, the Noroton Yacht Club offers them prime real estate. All the same, Eng initially tried to discourage the birds from making their home on the club's pier. 

"I dismantled their pilings twice and put up two poles near the building site," Eng said. "But by the time I noticed their next piling, it had become a substantial nest."

The pair finished building their nest in mid-April and soon laid three or four eggs, which hatched a little over a week ago.

First Selectman Dave Campbell, a club member, recently installed a live webcam to give the community a peak. The camera, mounted on top of a pole about 75 feet from the nest, provides a bird's-eye view of the family.

"I wanted to give everyone in the community an opportunity to see these magnificent birds in action," Campbell said.

The Darien Nature Center is hosting the feed from the camera, which refreshes every three seconds. (If the images do not load, users should consult the instructions for help with a possible software installation.)

The nest is situated above the ramp that leads from the pier to the float. In the past, club members have enjoyed cooling off at the end of the pier while taking in the view.

"I guess the Ospreys admired the same setting when they chose their nesting site in the spring," Campbell said. The club closed off the entire main pier out of concern for ospreys, a decision applauded by Darien Nature Center Director Lynn Hamlen.

"If kids were allowed to run up and down the dock, it would have been chaotic—not just for the birds, but for parents too," Hamlen said. "The Noroton Yacht Club is showing their respect to the ospreys' need for space to fly around and raise their young."

Ospreys haven't always had an easy go of it, either. Hamlen noted that the once-common pesticide DDT had been shown to inhibit ospreys' ability to reproduce, driving down populations over the years. Thankfully, their ranks have recovered since the substance was banned in the U.S. in 1972.

The ospreys will enjoy a safe home for the rest of the season, but the club is hoping the birds will choose to nest at a slightly more convenient location if they return to the area next spring.

"Someone established a pile up the river to encourage the ospreys to settle there next year," said a hopeful Eng. For the rest of the summer, though, the Noroton Yacht Club's other piers will just be a little busier.