<div dir="ltr">Hi Tom,<div><br></div><div>I am trying to respond to Charlotte but it is not showing her email as recipient. I have been working on Osprey nest platforms for the Seattle area and the results are not encouraging. Even when the Seattle Parks department puts up a platform, it is often not a good situation for the Osprey because it is not properly constructed.</div><div><br></div><div>Two examples: First, there was an excellent nest built by the Osprey at Dahl Field one of the light poles. It was removed during the off- season-- it is illegal to remove nests from towers when actively in use. But the "replacement" on top on the light pole is a small metal grid with no depth or sides to prevent sticks from rolling off and no protection for hatchlings. It is truly a terrible site now and even lacks a parallel pole to allow the male to protect the female and young chicks from predators.</div><div><br></div><div>Similarly, Nathan Hale High School removed the excellent Osprey nest from the light pole there and replaced it with an undersized box at the top of the pole. Last year the dismayed parents did not know what to do. They would come and stare at the box and even tried to bring sticks but the box was too small to fit the sticks in. I guess due to site fidelity, they did </div><div>not leave but I don't know whether they produced any chicks. This had been a productive nest for about 10 years. </div><div><br></div><div>NOAA put up the only well constructed platform in this area. It is surprisingly expensive to do the work correctly. I have not seen the platforms in eastern Washington but you might want to look at the website for Sandpoint, Idaho as this nest is a total community wide effort and now has a state of the art webcam as well.</div><div><br></div><div>Ronda</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Apr 11, 2024 at 10:07 PM Tom Benedict via Tweeters <<a href="mailto:tweeters@u.washington.edu">tweeters@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="line-break:after-white-space">I’ve wondered the same thing around here in not so affluent Burien we had Osprey nesting on a cell phone tower next to Highway 509 for a number of years, but I haven’t seen it for at least 10 years.<div><br></div><div>Tom Benedict</div><div>Seahurst, WA<br><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Apr 11, 2024, at 17:05, via Tweeters <<a href="mailto:tweeters@u.washington.edu" target="_blank">tweeters@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div style="font-family:LucidaGrande;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">Hello Tweeters,<u></u><u></u></div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"> Today I drove over to a cell tower near Hwy 99, where, for the past number of years, Ospreys have had nests. I have attached a photo showing a prospective parent on the tower with a bunch of sticks already on the tower.<u></u><u></u></div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/53648198239/in/dateposted-public/" style="color:rgb(70,120,134);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/53648198239/in/dateposted-public/</a><u></u><u></u></div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"> I have been pondering this question: why is it that in eastern WA and probably other places in western WA there are lots of platforms erected for Ospreys to use during nesting season, yet around here in affluent Edmonds, for instance, we have none that I know of? My understanding is that the cell tower owners may need to clean off the debris from the nest, possibly interrupting the nesting season for these birds. I wish we had some platforms around here in Edmonds! I think there are several pairs of Ospreys that nest here every year, but all on things like cell phone towers. Eastern WA appears to be way ahead of us here. I’d love to hear from some of you that are better informed than me about why this is the case. Best regards, Charlotte Byers, Edmonds</div></div></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>
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