It seems you can’t sling a dead cat without hitting an osprey nest here in Northeast Florida these days, which I happen to think is a wonderful thing. Just a few short years ago, they were a rare occurrence indeed. From where I sit on the drawbridge where I work, I can see 4 nests. They all seem to be occupied and thriving, but I am worried about one of them.
You see, ospreys couldn’t care less about the agendas of mere humans. They choose a nesting site that appeals to them, gives them a great view of the surrounding landscape and allows for easy access to fishing grounds. Once they have chosen a location, they become very attached to it. The nest in question is perched quite prettily on the traffic light that is on my drawbridge. Normally we would tolerate this sort of thing, provided the traffic light doesn’t get obscured, but this bridge is in the early stages of a much needed rehabilitation, and one of the things that will be replaced is, you guessed it, the traffic lights. This places the Florida Department of Transportation in the unfortunate position of waging war against this pair of ospreys.
Never fear, there has been no foul play in this battle of wits. It’s been strictly by the book. The FDOT has gotten a permit from the US Department of Fish and Wildlife. This permit allows them to disassemble the nest provided there are no eggs present. So for weeks now, FDOT has been taking a cherry picker up the bridge and taking down the nest, only to find it rebuilt by this determined pair of raptors the following day. It must be quite confusing, exhausting and frustrating for these birds. They are, after all, only doing what birds do.
Yesterday the birds accelerated this conflict. I saw them mating in the nest all morning. Surely eggs will not be far behind. I hope that FDOT will continue to play fair, and that my nightmares about some unscrupulous person pitching the eggs into the river will not come to pass. I’m rooting for the birds. Once the eggs are laid, it will be 45 days until they hatch, and then another two months before the babies are ready to fly the coop. If we just give them that little gift of time, nature can take its course and then we can have our traffic light back. It seems like a worthy sacrifice to me.
Update 4/10/13: It appears that the birds may have won the war! Apparently someone contacted fish and wildlife and told them they saw the workmen knock an egg on the ground (I’ve seen no evidence of this, and I hope it isn’t true), so now the workmen will no longer touch the nest, and our birds have already constructed quite a beautiful home. Go birds!
Leave a Reply