OSPREY - If you build it, will they come?
By Dave Hanks
This area has provided a bit of excitement for bird watchers. A pair of OSPREY built their nest upon a light pole that illuminates the baseball field, at the church, one half mile south of my home. Usually not tolerant of activity around their nest, this pair ignores the bustle going on below them and have raised two young each year. Thankfully, the nest was not removed and the birds are able to carry on with their lives.
Our home has a vast quantity of trees around it, and when not attending to their young, the parents will perch and fly around in our yard. I think that our trees have furnished most of the sticks for their nest. Before returning to the nest, an adult will snap off a branch from a tree and fly away with it. Sometimes they will snap a twig off while in flight, swooping down to the end of a dead branch, just like they were plucking up a fish. Often we observe them flying over with a fish, obtained at the river (˝ mile away). The fish is carried with its head into the wind in order to be more aerodynamic.
Afraid that the nest would eventually be removed, I decided to address the situation by erecting a pole and platform in our back corral/pasture. The birds fly over or circle that particular area on a regular basis. If the old nest is removed, hopefully they will choose our platform, or better still; a new pair will occupy it and that will result in an increase of the species in our area.
So our hopes rely upon the adage: “We built it, will they come”?
(A master fisherman)
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