Osprey nest on GSP sign post?

[lj762]

If you are driving north on the Garden State Parkway and crossing the Mullica River Bridge, around mile marker 49, take a look (or - safer - have your passenger take a look) on top of the big brown support column for the sign that says "Exit 50 1 mile, Tuckerton, New Gretna". Is that a nest up there? Do you see the bird or birds?

Driving by this morning I thought I saw some nesting stuff on top of the post, and 2 birds. It was a quick look and I thought they might be eagles. But driving back south-bound I looked and now I think they are more likely ospreys. What a place for a nest! It can't be very big up there.

 

[bobpbx]

Nice place for a nest.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.564...4!1suInqOmnvUd_73LejBqu9wA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[46er]

But driving back south-bound I looked and now I think they are more likely ospreys. What a place for a nest! It can't be very big up there.

I took the liberty to contact Ben Wurst about the nest. He is the Osprey Project coordinator. If they deem it a hazard to drivers they may likely move the nest as it will get messy once the pair start feeding any chicks.

http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/protecting/projects/osprey/

There used to be a nest nearby in the marsh to the NW that got blown down, this new one may be the pair's new digs.

 

[MuckSavage]

I heard the Eagle nest along the AC Expressway blew down a few weeks ago in a windstorm. Sad....I used to walk to it from my house

 

[lj762]

I took the liberty to contact Ben Wurst about the nest. He is the Osprey Project coordinator. If they deem it a hazard to drivers they may likely move the nest as it will get messy once the pair start feeding any chicks...

Thanks for doing that. I've met Ben, as well as watched his video of banding osprey chicks at Forsythe NWR.

I was thinking about the safety of the birds, not the cars, but you have a good point. I can just imagine someone driving along the parkway and getting hit by a dead, headless fish. That could be both messy and dangerous.

 

[46er]

watched his video of banding osprey chicks at Forsythe NWR.

Have you seen the video of him rescuing the Bald Eagles that were tangled together? If not, it is attached. Dangerous stuff.

 

[lj762]

Drove by and got another look today. There is definitely nesting material up there, but I still didn't get a good look at the birds. This morning (north-bound) they were not at the nest but I could see something flying around out there. This afternoon (south-bound) I saw 2 birds on top of the sign post but it was too far and too quick a look to identify them.

It doesn't look like more than 1 foot square up there. Can Ospreys make a nest in such a small area?

 

[GermanG]

There was an osprey sitting on a small amount of nesting material on the sign today, but it was on the tip of the stantion, which isn't right over a travel lane. I think anything falling from the nest will land on the guardrail or edge of the shoulder. I don't see it posing a hazard to anyone other than nature rubberneckers like us, but it will be a precarious base for the nest if it is enlarged in the future. Might be best for the birds if they are discouraged now rather than down the road.

 

[lj762]

... Might be best for the birds if they are discouraged now rather than down the road.

Too late, I think. There was one perched right on the Exit 50 sign - probably the male, and one on the nest - probably the female. They were like that in the morning and evening. I think that's what they do when the nest is done and the eggs are either on their way or already there.

 

[46er]

I think that's what they do when the nest is done and the eggs are either on their way or already there.

Chicks should be hatched by now. If not, they won't be old enough when its time to migrate.

 

[lj762]

Almost 2 years later, I think they are back. Saw 2 ospreys on the Exit 50 New Gretna / Tuckerton 1 Mile sign this morning, around mile marker 49 northbound GSP. It did really look like they are building or rebuilding a nest up there.