Photo from the Field: Osprey 04/M

During our osprey nest surveys we are always looking for auxiliary banded birds. Last summer over 40 red banded ospreys were re-sighted, which is the most ever encountered in a single year. The majority were breeding birds, photographed on their nests and others were photographed in flight or perched, often with prey. Some were even re-sighted several times throughout the year.

One particular banded bird that was encountered was 04/M. She originated from our osprey cam nest in Barnegat Light. She fledged in 2020 and had two other siblings that were also banded (03/M + 05/M) and successfully fledged. This was a crazy fun year to be watching our osprey cam. With three young, abundant prey was needed and the nesting male, “Duke” pulled through and provided plenty of fish so all young fledged successfully.

One crazy event that occurred that summer was when 04/M violently grabbed Duke by the eye socket and forcefully pulled him around as he cried for her to release him! Thankfully, he was okay and he continues to nest at the same location. If Duke returns this spring, he will be 20 years old!

04/M was 5 years old at the time of our re-sighting and has yet to establish a nest and raise young. She was found on a new style channel marker that does not support nests as well as the old style channel markers (with a built in platform). She was right off Long Beach Island, on the bay in Harvey Cedars with a private island nearby. That island might be a good location to install a nest platform for her to finally settle down and raise young. Full results from our 2025 surveys will be published soon. 

• View all known nests in New Jersey on Osprey Watch.