“It’s not very common to see ospreys, a large predatory bird, nest on the ground,” Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey Habitat Program Manager Ben Wurst notes in a blog post from late July. But as development engulfs the coast, and this species adapts, the sight of “natural” nests on the ground and on snags over water has, and will, become more prevalent.

The natural nests, as opposed to those on a platform, are both a glimpse into the future and into the past, “before humans dominated…