This osprey nesting platform is at the northwest end of a round white building at the IFF facility. It is best viewed from the end of Bayview Avenue, across East Creek. It appears to be new in 2015.
This roosting spot is at the top of a white oak tree overlooking Treasure Lake in the Cliffwood Beach section of Aberdeen, New Jersey. Osprey were often seen in this tree in 2015 but foliage obscured observation from the ground. In the summer of 2016, multiple visual and audible observations confirmed weeks of feeding and defense of the spot but no nesting activity.
This nesting platform is located near the western end of the Cliffwood Beach seawall. The nest can be found by walking down a municipal service road accessed from Greenwood Avenue about fifty feet from Lakeshore Drive. When the road ends, turn slightly east and continue towards the Raritan Bay. The nest will be on a hillock on your right, near where the remains of the old Cliffwood Beach pool are buried.
This nesting platform overlooks Keyport Harbor from Matawan Point in Cliffwood Beach. Take Cliffwood Avenue to South Concourse, make a right onto Beach Drive. Continue straight on unpaved surface into Aberdeen Twp mulch center until you reach a grassy meadow. The platform is straight ahead across the field. A stand of trees blocks your view of the harbor on your left. You can also get a view of the nesting platform from the end of Broadway in Keyport. Proceed through the light at Broadway and Amboy Avenue/West Front Street to a treed dead end. Park on the right at the end of the road. The nest is across the harbor, roughly in line with Broadway. Residential street, so be considerate.
Take Union Avenue to the end of Bayview Avenue and park on the right. Walk past the fire hydrant on the left end of Bayview and stand facing the creek. The low, man-made platform is in the near ground at 11 o'clock in the direction you were walking. A small feeder creek with a steep bank and reeds runs along the north side of Bayview. If you use a GPS device, set it for the intersection of Bayview AV & Beachview AV to avoid ending up in a different part of town.
There is a tall channel marker on the Old Bridge side of the entrance to the Cheesequake Creek inlet, about 100 yards off the beach on a rocky jetty. It is one of a pair of channel markers, the other being on the Sayreville side of the inlet. No nest was spotted at this site in July 2014, but both markers would make feasible if noisy spots for nesting ospreys.
The nest is atop a standard telephone pole being used to mount four large white speakers evidently used for fire department or orher public alarm. It is inside the Union Beach Recycling Center lot and vieweable from Florence Avenue.
There is an osprey nest at the top of a very tall and wide girth utility pole along the east side of Rose Lane between Jersey Avenue and Route 36. The spot is adjacent to Natco Lake and just down the road from IFF and the Hudson Trail.
The nest is located on the Monmouth County side of Whale Creek, just off Ocean Boulevard and across from the fishermen's parking lot at Cliffwood Beach in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey. Besides going to the shore and parking to go view the nest, there is a viewing stand with a NJ State Park interpretive sign and bench you can sit on along the Kavanaugh Trail in Cheesequake State Park. The wooded trail is accessible from Lakeshore Drive not far from the Aberdeen Twp Maintenance Center on Lenox Road. A wooden archway has the trail name marked at the street edge. The trail is new and can be pretty muddy after a rain, so wear proper foot gear. There is a description of the trail, creek, et al at Aberdeen NJ Life blog.
The nest is at the top of a tall communications tower at Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L)'s Wilson Avenue sub-station. The tower is immediately behind the sub-station. The nest is best viewed from the lawn on the left side of the building. I parked in the visitors' parking lot off Wilson but the office was closed at the time. Wilson Avenue has no shoulder, so don't expect to park on the side of the road. The Hudson Trail crosses Wilson about 50 ft away, so you might consider making the nest part of a hike on the trail. Wilson begins at Route 79 at the Brass Rail (former Poet's Inn) restaurant.
A nesting platform was erected along Crooks Point Trail in Great Kills Gateway National Park in 1994, but the osprey, while visiting the park, didn't favor the nesting site. So Con Ed, responding to park rangers requests, built a nesting platform nearby atop a 45-foot utility pole and placed nesting materials on it in 2002, according to a 7 March 2002 article in The New York Daily News titled "High Hopes for New Osprey Nest." The Gateway National Recreational Area's Facebook page pointed out in 2011 that Great Kills had the only active osprey nesting sites on Staten Island. SILive repeated this assertion in 2014.
A nesting platform along the Raritan Bay between Flat Creek and East Creek in Union Beach. The area is mostly wetlands between Bayview Avenue and the bay.
This nest was reportedly on a piling at the mouth of Matawan Creek, at a point just west of the intersection of American Legion Drive and Broad Street in Keyport. No nest existed as of the end of June 2014, but the area could easily accommodate additional nests in future years. There is a short term parking lot off Broad Street at the boat ramp; pull in beyond the spaces designated for the ramp to find 8-10 legal spots. The Keyport wharf offers a great vista on the nearby pilings as well as the shoreline east of the point. There is additional parking on West Front Street and in a municipal lot behind McDonaugh's Pub.
Playground overhead lighting on the east side of the north end of Cedar Street along the bayshore in Keyport. The lights are a local alternative to a mannade platform that no longer exists.
The nest is at the top of a communications tower above the Union Beach police station. From Keyport, take First Street out of town to a fork in the road and veer to the right. That will be Stone Road. Follow it when it swings to the left. Cross the intersection and park on a dirt lot on the right side of the road across from the police station. The tower will be on your left. The main entrance to the station is under the carport to the other side of the building, turn left and turn left again. Remember that it is a police station, so hanging around and taking photos could become an issue.
Barzillai
Barzillai's Monitoring Groups
Barzillai's nests
Barzillai's photos