Finally, a Follow-up to the Osprey Nest in Bobcaygeon

I can now update my Blog with what has happened re the above by cheating and giving you my Ontbirds postings, the first one was published on Thursday, August 12th:

There is a potential imminent threat to an active Osprey nest on CKL Rd 24 on the outskirts of Bobcaygeon. The nest is situated next to a bridge that is apparently to be demolished beginning on Monday, August 16, according to the workers I spoke with this afternoon. There are three fledged young that continue to use this nest as their base camp, and now there is a dumpster right next to it, as well as other construction equipment. I have therefore contacted MNR, Canadian Wildlife Services, and Friends of the Osprey organization for their help with this dire situation, as I fear for the welfare of these magnificent birds. If anyone wishes to contact me privately for photos, pls feel free to do so, thanks.


On the following afternoon I posted the following, after a flurry of phone calls and e-mails in an eighteen hour period, it was insane:


Further to yesterday's posting re the above, I met with Barb Puxley (aka "Mother Osprey") at the nest site this morning, as well as with the Works team to assess the situation. It was determined that the welfare of the birds will not be compromised by the present location of the storage container (vs. a dumpster, my mistake), as it will force any construction equipment to avoid the nest during the next few weeks until the birds migrate. Barb has also discussed this with the MNR folks, and the workers/contractors are very clear as to what precautions need to be taken while doing any work, but they will avoid the nest between now and migration time. Pls feel free to contact Barb Puxley directly for further details. 


I admit to being very pleased and totally overwhelmed by the amount of support I received from not only my nerding friends but also by total strangers who read my postings (FYI to my non-birding readers, Ontbirds is a mailing list for bird sightings that goes out to 2600 subscribers, and at the suggestion of a few of my friends, I opted to rattle a few more cages by posting the plight of this Osprey family).

In the end, this situation was deemed newsworthy locally, and a blurb on CHEX tv in Peterborough was broadcast on the Tuesday evening news. In Friday's Lindsay Post, an article with a photo made the front page, and a Letter to the Editor written by Barb Puxley also made the paper, and at one point in time, I found myself in direct correspondence with Ric McGee, the Mayor of the City of Kawartha Lakes, yikes!


The really good news is that the Osprey family seems to be faring well this past week since the bridge demolition has commenced. On Monday  (=Day One of construction) there was no sign of the Osprey at all, nor was there any sign of workers either, in fact it looked like the demolition had been postponed, but by the time I returned there on Friday, I saw one parent and one juvie in the immediate area, with others on the wing, so here goes with what it looked like...

The nest with a juvie in it can be seen on the left hand side of the photo:

One of the three juvies in the nest:

One of the parents flew by and landed in a tree:

The juvie entertained me from the nest as it fussed over itself in the early morning sunshine:

I will return to the nest again in the morning to check on the family, so let's see what tomorrow brings!

I'd also like to give a heartfelt THANKS to all of you for your kind words and support to me. This is the first time that I've ever done such a thing, and I truly appreciate your help and advice to me as I navigated unknown waters!