It was a windy, cold and dreary November day in central Ohio. Almost everyone in the Central Ohio OYBC chapter had arrived at Glacier Ridge Metro Park to erect the osprey nesting platform that students had built in September. (For more information on that, see the OYBC report on Welcoming the Ospreys.)
The day started with everyone arriving at the park and walking along a boardwalk out to about 100 yards from the site. There Dick Tuttle talked to us about the various methods of raising a platform, the history of platforms in Ohio, and where the osprey pair might get food. After that, we all walked out to where the platform was waiting. Dick Tuttle and Dick Phillips used a winch to raise it to its full height atop a utility pole, occasionally hammering the wood or tightening something to make it go smoothly.
After the platform had been raised, we took tons of group pictures of us with it. We then measured out 100 feet from the platform and set up a sign saying that people couldn’t enter. The sign was high enough so that the male osprey could perch on it without being attacked by a coyote. We then went to an observation tower nearby in the park to look at the platform from where the public would get to see it.
After the platform was done, we all met under a pavilion (that did not do much to stop the wind) and discussed topics for our chapter’s Youth Advisory Board to talk about in their meeting, and when we might start seeing osprey at the platform. If an osprey pair does show up, they will most likely appear in around 3 years. Hopefully, in the spring of 2014 or 2015, we’ll be able to see a pair on the platform we built and raised ourselves.
Check out the photo gallery from this event!