Subject: [Tweeters] Cell Towers and Osprey
Date: May 10 18:43:55 2013
From: John Riegsecker - jriegsecker at pobox.com


All,

For many years, a pair of Osprey made their nest in a cell tower on
Peacock Hill Road, north of Gig Harbor. Two years ago a pair of Bald
Eagles evicted them and raised a chick. The Osprey built a new nest,
that I am guessing was about a mile from the old one. I say guessing,
because I never could quite locate it. Last year the Eagles abandoned
the cell tower nest and the Osprey continued to use their new nest.

This spring the Eagles hung around the tower some, and when the Osprey
returned they continued using the new nest. Then one day I saw an
Osprey on the cell tower that appeared to be much smaller than either of
the two that used to be there. Later I saw three Osprey and two Eagles
over my house. Our house seems to be roughly half way between the new
nest and the cell tower and every day I see 2 to 3 Osprey overhead
calling. (As I write this an Osprey just flew outside my window
calling.) I thought perhaps we would get two nests this year

So, I was surprised when I came home this evening to see an extremely
tall crane at the cell tower, hoisting two men in a bucket to the top of
the tower. I stopped and talked to the crew. They are putting in the
necessary gear for LTE. Working this late in the year requires
supervision by a Federal biologist. Last night they hoisted the
biologist to the nest to look things over. His verdict was the Osprey
would be laying eggs by Tuesday at the latest. The crew has until
tomorrow morning to finish the job.

If I understood the worker correctly, when they got up there, there were
four Osprey in the nest.


John Riegsecker
Gig Harbor, WA
jriegsecker at pobox dot com
--
John Riegsecker