Dawn Brucale
Dawn Brucale monitors eight Osprey nests.
Dawn Brucale, Branford
Osprey Nation Steward
“I really enjoy the education that I get not only from the Connecticut Audubon Society and other members of Osprey Nation, but also from the regular people that happen to frequent the areas where the nests that I monitor are located, who have also been keeping an eye on my nests because they spend a lot of time walking the areas. They love to talk about everything that they witness and want to know more about if what they are seeing is normal behavior, what are their mating habits, where do they migrate, do they eat anything other than fish…. So it’s always an opportunity for me to capture info about what’s been going on since I’ve been there last and also help educate the rest of the community.
“Now that I have a new scope, my Osprey-watching sessions turn into living classrooms! I LOVE IT! There’s not one time that I have been staring into the scope that I wasn’t ‘interrupted’ by a ‘what do you see out there?’ and that’s when I get to step aside and say, ‘Well, come on over and take a look!’. I can’t explain the excitement and the joy that every one of those people experiences when that have the opportunity to get right into that nest and really see the birds up close. Adults and children alike. They all have the same reaction… ‘WOW, they are beautiful! THANK YOU so much for letting me see them that close.’ And the excitement is shared by me as well. I feel like it’s a gift that I am giving to them and to the Osprey.”
Join Dawn as a Member of the Connecticut Audubon Society!
“Many people walk by taking the nests for granted, they become the background scenery as they walk the paths through the parks and along the shoreline, paying more attention to the music in the headphones or the friends that are poking at them on their cell phones…. I like to interrupt them when I can with a ‘good morning’ or ‘good afternoon,’ forcing them to look up, and most will then say hello in return and then become instantly curious about what I’M doing there … staring into the trees or into the marsh areas. And that’s when I get to make them fall in love with the Osprey. Once I’ve accomplished that, they are aware of something that didn’t really matter, or exist to them previously, but has now become an important part of their walk, jog or bike ride through the area and they stop to check in and make sure that the ‘family’ is doing well.
“I joined Osprey Nation in the summer of 2014, just as the program was launched and at that time I had three nests to monitor. Two years later I now have eight nests! As time went on I took on nests that were ‘no longer being monitored’ by other stewards that happened to be next to mine, found one that wasn’t on the map and another this year that had been vacant previously that a new Osprey couple took over late in the season and are now raising two nestlings. So it has become a pretty big part of my weekend and I generally dedicate half a day to checking in on all of them at once and have a routine that I follow, saving my Branford Trolley Trail nests for last because there I have five nests all in close proximity, and one of them I have to hike through the woods for 10 minutes until I get to an outcropping of rocks leading to my final nest.
“I usually try to start with my nest that’s on a cell tower off of 95. I have to view that from an overpass and even with the scope it’s difficult to see due to the height. I can’t see down into that nest and it seems to have been unsuccessful for the last two years. I then move on to Harbor Street where I get to sit on a small stone bridge to monitor the nest. As I sit on the wall and stare into my binoculars, the Branford River runs under my feet as they dangle over the wall, filling the marsh area, where there are two Osprey nests, with the lifeblood of their existence… the new tide brings in fresh fish. The sound of the water washes away the passing cars and becomes my therapy from a long week of work.
“Monitoring eight nests may sound like an enormous amount of work and, I kid you not, there are days when it wears me out, but I always make the time to get out there because the reward of listening to the water, breathing in the salty air and staring into the eyes of the Osprey bring me back into balance when the rest of my world is so chaotic.
“Because this nest is in a bit of a small marsh area it seems to be a great feeding ground for the Osprey. They don’t have to go far from their nest and I get the benefit of great photo ops! I’ve captured some of my best Osprey fishing pics from this spot, including juveniles who are doing it for the first time.
“I then move on to Foote Park where passersby wonder why in the world am I staring into the trees directly in front of me with my binoculars. When I invite them over to show them that I am looking THROUGH the trees, that just beyond the tree-line is a marsh and a nest with three juvenile Osprey, they are generally shocked. ‘I walk by here all the time, I had no idea there was a nest over there!’…. education, the gift that keeps on giving, I guarantee you that they pass that info on to someone else who didn’t know they were there and may not have even known what an Osprey was.
“My last stop – saving the best for last – is the Trolley Trail, where I see my last five nests. As you walk down the trail it seems that that the marsh grasses are closing in on you at times and as they are rustling in the summer breeze I stop thinking that I just heard a critter sneaking through but it’s usually just the sharp edges of the grasses rubbing up against each other. It seems like a long walk to nowhere but eventually the grasses part and you’re standing in the most amazing marsh area that also borders the Long Island Sound. Both sides of the trail have Osprey nests. Four of my five nests that are here are in very close proximity to each other. I can literally stand on the trail in one spot and rotate to see all four nests!
“And if you thought the Osprey were amazing, hang out here for a while and you’ll surely get a show. On any given day you can see both snowy and great egrets, terns, swallows, herons, cormorants, glossy ibis, oystercatchers and sandpipers, just to mention a few and those are only the ones that I have been lucky enough to see. As a girl growing up in the Bronx, pigeons, blue jays and sparrows were all that I was aware of… geese and swans if I happened to venture over to a park by the water. THIS is an amazing and new world. Still, after being in Connecticut for 25 years, I continue to be amazed and thrilled by the wildlife and nature around me and learn something new no matter how many times I visit the same locations. New wildlife, new plants, new people.
“My last nest was one that I found after talking to one of the regulars on the trail. He’s there every weekend sitting on the bench with his binoculars. He’s one of many people along the trail that have pointed out and identified many of the birds that I previously didn’t know were even standing in the grasses around me! Sometimes you get so caught up in staring at the osprey nestlings as they gobble up pieces of fish from mom that you don’t even notice there’s a great blue heron standing just a few feet away.
“As I’m taking pictures of my nests my new trail buddy says to me, ‘You know, there’s another Osprey nest out at the end of the trail through the woods along the water.’ Really? I didn’t even know there was a trail through the wood that lead to the water. I wondered if anyone was monitoring it, so I checked the Osprey Nation map and the nest was nowhere to be found. I reported it to the program administrators, agreed that I would be happy to take on another nest since it was not too far from the others, and here I am, 8 nests later! This nest is my most challenging yet the most rewarding. I never planned on having to hike to a nest, let alone fight off every bug along the shoreline as they try to make a meal out of me! But I put on the bug spray and consider it my workout for the day as I climb over fallen trees, step over streams and remember to look up into the tops of the trees because this is also a favorite hangout area for the Osprey. When they catch their fish they will hang out in these trees away from their nests to eat in peace, without their nestlings pestering them for a bite. I’ve also had the opportunity to see a very young fawn with its mom along this trail.
“Ten minutes later, my walk through the woods presents me with an end to the trees and the beginning of the rocks and water. The great reveal! The trees open up to the beautiful shoreline of the sound, with other rocky islands a short distance away that cater to shorebirds that need a rest and want to dry out their wings and the house across the way on the island that I can sit and daydream about living in. And just off to the left is my last nest, where mom is encouraging the new fledglings to take flight and learn how to fish. She’ll sit in a nearby tree and call to them in hopes that they will get tired of waiting for her to return with food and get out there on their own.
“I make this my last stop not only because of the hike, but because I could easily sit by the water for a half hour and watch two of my nests from this location while also continuing my sensory therapy via the sound of the water hitting the rocks, the tern’s sharp and high-pitched calls as it plunges into the water head-first like a bullet into the water, completely submerged and then resurfacing seconds later, most often successful with a fish in it’s mouth.
“So for me, a day monitoring eight nests can easily occupy three or more hours between traveling from one nest site to another and spending time at each nest, much of that also depending on how much nature therapy I need for that particular weekend!
“I view Ospreys as a picture of our overall environmental health. I think their success is not only based on all of the efforts made to provide nesting areas that are protected and monitored but it also speaks to the health of our waterways not only here in Connecticut but along their entire journey along their migration paths. Seeing as their main food source is fish, the waterways must also be making great improvements because our population of Osprey continues to grow and thrive.
“I think some of the challenges may be new nesting areas. I think we will continue to see a growth in the population and there could be a problem with where they nest when platforms are not available. I think the other challenge will be as the newness of the program wears off of some volunteers will start to drop off and we will see more nests that are unmonitored. I often encourage the people that I see along my visits to each nest that are casually watching nests to become officially involved and take on at least one nest. I look forward to many years of success with the program and hope to inspire others to join the family”
