What do Ospreys have in common with beavers?
Article by: Marc-Andre Beaucher, M.Sc., RPBio, Manager of Conservation Programs, CVWMA
Really not all that much except that they can be just as determined to build a nest on a particular power pole as beavers are to build a dam in a particular water course!
In late July, we discovered a new nest start (a bunch of sticks!) on the power pole immediately adjacent to CVWMA’s Duck Lake pump house. We immediately contacted FortisBC in Creston to report our findings. This particular power pole is equipped with three large transformers and “circuit breakers” and piling a bunch of branches in between this equipment is not only a fire hazard but also deadly for large birds like Ospreys. A FortisBC crew was dispatched out within a few days and the branches were removed.
Ospreys normally start building nests in the spring once they return from spending the winter in the southern hemisphere. Pairs will very often re-use the same nest for several years. If a site becomes no longer suitable or successful, Ospreys will sometimes move to a new location and build a new nest.
A pair of Ospreys has been nesting for several years on the railroad bridge a few hundred meters north of the pumphouse, but appeared to have failed this past summer. This failure may have prompted the pair to relocate to the quieter power pole next to the pump house.
On November 7th, FortisBC’s Creston Field Operations crew returned to the pump house to clean the branches for a second time and installed special “cones” on the cross arm of the pole to prevent any further construction and erected a new nest pole to the southeast of the pump house. These platforms are normally very successful and readily adopted by Osprey, and this one offers a spectacular view of Duck Lake!
Many thanks to FortisBC’s field operations crew (Creston) and Terrestrial Biologist Amy Duncan (Nelson) for making this happen – the Ospreys will be truly thankful!
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