>From my contact at Chelan County PUD




Keywords: Interspecific competition!



Chelan PUD has provided those platforms for nesting osprey to reduce their
risk for causing fires/outages on nearby distribution poles. Osprey in our
area are migratory, and leave the area for southern climes around late
September, and typically return to our area around the first of April.
When the osprey return, we take the covers off the platforms.



Why the covers, though? And why are some covered and others not?



Canada geese begin their nesting season around mid-March, before the osprey
return. In areas closest to the water, Canada geese have claimed osprey
platforms before the osprey do, putting the osprey out of house and home.
Osprey are then forced to begin to make another nest nearby, which is
typically on another risky distribution pole...not good for osprey, not
good for power delivery. To protect the investment we have in providing
and maintaining these platforms that are safe for osprey to nest in and
keep them off of our electrical system, we place a convex cover on them
during later winter to deter the geese (typically a ground-nester) so that
osprey can have their safe, dedicated nesting place reserved for them when
they return year after year. Not all of them are covered, because the
geese tend to select for certain ones being closest to the water and
gosling brooding areas.


Diane


*It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not!*
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