The osprey, a water-hunting bird of prey, is listed by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on the state endangered species list.
Thanks to the efforts of a local conservation group and the staff at Summit Lake, Henry County residents and visitors can now take a short drive to watch the raptors in action.
Two ospreys have taken up residence on a nesting platform near the Summit Lake dam. This is the first time ospreys have been seen nesting at the park, which is located at 5993 N. Messick Road, New Castle.
“It’s very exciting to have them here,” said Summit Lake State Park Property Manager Nikki LeCrone. “They are rare, beautiful birds. We are lucky they picked Summit as not only a fishing spot, but now hopefully a permanent home.”
Ospreys have a wingspan of about 5 feet and are primarily found along streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs where they forage for fish, DNR said. The osprey’s main prey is fish and it is the only raptor to plunge into the water for prey.
According to Indiana DNR, the U.S. osprey population declined rapidly in the 1950s-1970s due to the the pesticide DDT, loss of breeding grounds and poaching. The ban of DDT in combination with statewide conservation programs, including the use of artificial nesting platforms, helped the population regain its footing, DNR said.
The birds of prey at Summit Lake State Park built their home atop a nesting platform that was originally installed by the Robert Cooper Audubon Society in 2007.
The Robert Cooper Audubon Society (RCAS), Inc., is a regional chapter of the National Audubon Society, serving approximately 500 members in East Central Indiana, in Blackford, Delaware, Grant, Henry, Jay, Madison and Randolph counties. It is a 501(c)3 organization with the goal to protect and enhance the quality of the local natural environment and educate members and others about “the natural world and the special relationship that humans have with it.”
According to RCAS member Jeff Ray, the group partnered with the Henry County REMC and other local utility companies in 2007 to erect five osprey nesting platforms in East Central Indiana, including two platforms are at each end of the dam at Summit Lake.
The nesting platform the ospreys have selected was struck by lightening in 2012 and had to be rebuilt and reinstalled.
“It’s really important to Summit Lake that they’ve established a nest here because they are on the state endangered species list,” LeCrone said. “Osprey and their nests are few and far between, but because of nesting poles like the one they are using, this bird of prey is making a come back. We’ve been waiting several years with the hopes of them using one of the two nesting poles around the lake.”
LeCrone said park staff do believe the pair has offspring.
“We appreciate the public giving them space and viewing them from afar,” she said. Other Henry County nesting platforms built by the Robert Cooper Audubon Society can be seen at at the north end of Westwood Reservoir in New Castle, at Province Pond along U.S. Hwy 36 and at the Red-tail Nature Preserve at the corner of County Road East 650 South and Cardinal Greenway in Muncie.