OldDog/NewTricks
Well-known member
In the world of animals, I think birds are more focused than most. They eat, fly, nest, lay eggs and raise their young, migrate and then start all over again. That's what birds do. Ospreys are not only focused, they are persistant. They are driven to nest and when they find the perfect nesting place, very little will discourage them from building a nest in that spot.
A few years ago, I was working in a Longview log yard located next to the Columbia River. The log yard consisted of several hundred acres of asphalt punctuated by very tall light and power poles at measured intervals. One of these poles was on the unpaved grade next to a rail road used by the owners to move logs and pulp from one part of the yard to another.
One day, a very persistant Osprey chose this pole as the place she wanted to nest. She perched on the pole for a few hours, flying off now and again, but always returning to the top of this pole to sit and watch. Then, on one of her return trips, she carried a stick that was longer than she was tall and about as big around as your thumb, and placed it on the top of the pole. Then she flew off and returned again carrying another stick about the same size and placed it across the first stick. This went on for quite a few trips. Some of the sticks were larger or smaller, and some were straight and others crooked, but she worked at getting them to lay just right across the top of this pole. Occasionally, one would fall to the ground. If that happend, the stick was forgotten and off she would fly to find another of the right size and shape.
After a few trips, the Osprey started returning with leaved branches and began weaving them into the sticks already in place She worked at this for most of an afternoon until late in the day it started looking like it would hold together. It was a warm afternoon and about 4:30 the wind started to pick up. Within a few minutes, the wind had blown some of the nest off the top of the pole and on to the power lines. One of these sticks happened to cross a few lines. Sparks flew and it knocked the power out over a three block area. The sparks ignited the dry sticks and the whole smoldering mess fell to the ground where it landed in some tinder dry weeds at the foot of the pole.
Now, not only was the power out and the phones not working, but there was a small brush fire which was turning into a large brush fire. In short order, several truck drivers and loader drivers all converged on the fire with extinguishers and it was put out with no major damage to anything except the Osprey's nest. It was pretty much destroyed.
The next morning, as I drove into the yard, I noticed this Osprey sitting on the same pole. and before the morning was over, she was repeating her work of the day before. Flying out and returning with sticks and branches and laying them at the top of this most desirable nesting place.
Well, the owners of the yard were not excited about the problems with her last nest, so as soon as the Osprey flew off to get a stick, the loader operator would knock down the sticks she had already placed so carefully on the pole. This didn't seem to bother her and she would replace each stick with another. It became a contest of wills. The workers would remove what she had placed, and she would replace what they had removed. This went on for several hours until someone figured out the cost of paying someone to keep this bird from nesting on this pole.
The next day it started all over again, however the yard owners decided they would put to rest this whole issue by placing a cone at the top of the pole. They figured this would solve the problem as it would be impossible to balance a large nest on the pointy end of a traffic cone. This might be true for humans, but not for Ospreys. That bird started building a nest atop that cone and she might actually have been successful, but in sheer desperation, the humans decided it would be cheaper to sink another pole (they had several lying around), with a platform on the top right next to the pole with the cone on top.
The Osprey, being the smartest of the whole group, saw that platform and decided to move to new digs. To this day, she or some of her offspring still use the nest that this most persistant of Ospreys wanted to build on that particular spot
A few years ago, I was working in a Longview log yard located next to the Columbia River. The log yard consisted of several hundred acres of asphalt punctuated by very tall light and power poles at measured intervals. One of these poles was on the unpaved grade next to a rail road used by the owners to move logs and pulp from one part of the yard to another.
One day, a very persistant Osprey chose this pole as the place she wanted to nest. She perched on the pole for a few hours, flying off now and again, but always returning to the top of this pole to sit and watch. Then, on one of her return trips, she carried a stick that was longer than she was tall and about as big around as your thumb, and placed it on the top of the pole. Then she flew off and returned again carrying another stick about the same size and placed it across the first stick. This went on for quite a few trips. Some of the sticks were larger or smaller, and some were straight and others crooked, but she worked at getting them to lay just right across the top of this pole. Occasionally, one would fall to the ground. If that happend, the stick was forgotten and off she would fly to find another of the right size and shape.
After a few trips, the Osprey started returning with leaved branches and began weaving them into the sticks already in place She worked at this for most of an afternoon until late in the day it started looking like it would hold together. It was a warm afternoon and about 4:30 the wind started to pick up. Within a few minutes, the wind had blown some of the nest off the top of the pole and on to the power lines. One of these sticks happened to cross a few lines. Sparks flew and it knocked the power out over a three block area. The sparks ignited the dry sticks and the whole smoldering mess fell to the ground where it landed in some tinder dry weeds at the foot of the pole.
Now, not only was the power out and the phones not working, but there was a small brush fire which was turning into a large brush fire. In short order, several truck drivers and loader drivers all converged on the fire with extinguishers and it was put out with no major damage to anything except the Osprey's nest. It was pretty much destroyed.
The next morning, as I drove into the yard, I noticed this Osprey sitting on the same pole. and before the morning was over, she was repeating her work of the day before. Flying out and returning with sticks and branches and laying them at the top of this most desirable nesting place.
Well, the owners of the yard were not excited about the problems with her last nest, so as soon as the Osprey flew off to get a stick, the loader operator would knock down the sticks she had already placed so carefully on the pole. This didn't seem to bother her and she would replace each stick with another. It became a contest of wills. The workers would remove what she had placed, and she would replace what they had removed. This went on for several hours until someone figured out the cost of paying someone to keep this bird from nesting on this pole.
The next day it started all over again, however the yard owners decided they would put to rest this whole issue by placing a cone at the top of the pole. They figured this would solve the problem as it would be impossible to balance a large nest on the pointy end of a traffic cone. This might be true for humans, but not for Ospreys. That bird started building a nest atop that cone and she might actually have been successful, but in sheer desperation, the humans decided it would be cheaper to sink another pole (they had several lying around), with a platform on the top right next to the pole with the cone on top.
The Osprey, being the smartest of the whole group, saw that platform and decided to move to new digs. To this day, she or some of her offspring still use the nest that this most persistant of Ospreys wanted to build on that particular spot