Birders,

On April 14, while birding in the Nicola Valley near Merritt, B.C., I
checked 17 OSPREY nests for occupancy. (All of these were used by
Ospreys in either or both 2000 and 2001.)

The results were as follows:

Canada Goose incubating on nest-- 4 nests
1 or 2 Ospreys on or near the nest-- 6 nests
Neither Ospreys or geese on the nest-- 7 nests

Only about half of the Ospreys had returned to the valley as of April
14. (The first one this year was seen on April 7.) Use by Canada
Geese seems to be a couple of nests less than usual.

Another check in a couple of weeks should give a better idea of how
many nests will be occupied by Ospreys this year.

The area covered was from Lower Nicola east to the east end of Douglas
Lake.

Two BALD EAGLE nests were also checked-- one just west of the hamlet
of Nicola and one at the west end of Douglas Lake-- and each had an
adult on the nest, presumably incubating. Two other known and
presumably active Bald Eagle nests were not checked.

I hope to provide a couple more reports later in the spring.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, BC
contopus at shaw.ca