Ospreys – Nest
Music; Ambience: Osprey
It’s one thing to have a bird feeder in your back yard, but how about a nesting platform for osprey’s? I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. We’re in the Chesapeake Bay region, where it’s the season for the hawks known as ospreys to be raising their young. Near his home in Mattox Creek, Virginia, Pulse of the Planet listener Ted Smith set up a pole with a platform on it. It’s an ideal nesting site for migrating ospreys.
“Well, I looked back, and I think the first time we had them was 13 years ago. And I assume it’s the same pair, they’re mated for life. And they’ve been on a regular schedule, and they always come back, the first of the season, and claim their same old nest. They’re made up of small branches. It’s amazing they get it to hold in place. There’s no secretion, or mud, or anything like that. It’s just this loose network of branches.”
Ted Smith situated his pole and platform just where ospreys like to build their nests — in open water.
“If they don’t find a place over water like a pole, or a boathouse, they’ll go to a tree near the water, but it’s not their preference because snakes can climb up trees, and raccoons like eggs. So they like to protect themselves and their babies as much as possible. So, over water is their preference. Within site of our house, right here, we can see five nests, and we can go out into the channel and see lots more of them. Every boat person, sailor, or power boat knows about going past the markers, and every marker’s got a nest on it. So it’s quite wonderful to see them. That’s how I discovered them, seeing them in Chesapeake Bay.”
Pulse of the Planet is presented by the National Science Foundation.