The pair on marker 24 came back on the first of February, the same week as last year and the year before. By the fifth they had rebuilt the nest to the size of a bathtub, by the tenth there was a bird sitting, and by now every boat going out the Jensen Beach causeway slows down to look.
Ospreys mate for life and return to the same nest, which on this coast means the channel markers, the dead pines along the lagoon and the platforms the power company puts up to keep them off the lines. The nests are rebuilt every spring with sticks, seaweed and whatever the river offers; the one on marker 24 has a length of yellow rope woven through it that has been there three seasons.
Where to watch
The causeway catwalks are the best free seat: markers 24 and 26 are a hundred yards off and a pair of binoculars turns the nest into a living room. The Riverwalk has a pair on the pilings by the bridge. The Jupiter Inlet lighthouse grounds have four nests in the dead trees along the river, and the kayak trip through the Savannas passes two more.
- Binoculars, and patience; the birds come and go every twenty minutes.
- Do not get between a nest and the water in a boat; the adults will tell you.
- Chicks hatch in late March and fly by May.
- The platforms on the power poles are the company’s; the birds chose them anyway.
By the end of May the chicks are on the wing, the nests go quiet and the markers go back to being markers until next February.
