A Brief History of Our South Channel Osprey Nesting Platform

 

In June, 1984 our family had the luxury of living full time at our cottage. We could easily see the telephone pole on a small island in the main channel just South of 5 Mile Bay. This pole was still in use and unfortunately two osprey had decided to nest on it that spring. Huge sticks hung out over the electrical wires and insulators. More than once these sticks shorted out the electric power to our area, and hydro workers arrived to remove the nest. In early May 1985 the same problem began and we were once again disappointed to see the birds lose their home. Apparently so were the men doing the job as one of them suggested that a word to hydro might inspire them to build a platform for the birds. We wrote a letter requesting that they consider doing that, and to our delight a platform was added to the top of the pole. On our spring electric bill there was a note saying that the electricity had been removed from the pole and that the pole was now for the exclusive use of the osprey.

 

1986 was the first year that we recorded a successful nesting pair on our osprey platform, and every year since then we think eggs have been laid and hatched. Our first brood gave us a lot of excitement when chicks learning to fish and fly landed in the water and required rescuing. A paddle under their amazing talons would lift them out of the water and we would carefully place them on dry land. Osprey do not have oil in their feathers as waterfowl do, and should they spend too long in the water they become heavy and chicks sometimes do not have the strength to lift themselves out of the water.

 

In late April,1991 human visitors came to the hydro pole and erected a huge ladder to see into the nest. Immediately we proceeded to the nest to protect the osprey from intruders. The “intruders” turned out to be from the Canadian Wildlife Services – Peter Ewing to be exact – and he came to our cottage when his work was complete to explain why he was there. They were studying osprey and in particular looking at pollutants that might be in the eggs. Osprey often lay 3 eggs, the last laid being the smallest. This egg often does not hatch, and Peter had taken this egg to study in the lab. He came back later to band, sex and weigh the two chicks. For several years Peter studied osprey in and around our area, keeping us and the Georgian Bay Osprey Society informed of his findings.

 

Life at the osprey platform has carried on much the same each year with the adult birds arriving back before the ice leaves and the first cottagers arrive, and the fledglings leaving the nest sometime in mid-August. However, two winters ago a good deal of the platform fell down (namely the base) but that did not discourage the birds. Then last fall most of the rest of the platform fell down in a storm. Rick Zanussi has constructed a new platform but before he was able to put it into place this spring the birds were back building a nest and sitting on eggs. We are hoping that they have a strong structure that will last until the chicks fledge, and then at that time the new platform can be put into place.

 

We know most cottagers on the Bay look forward to seeing and hearing these amazing birds on their familiar nesting platform. After almost 20 years of use it is certainly part of our South Channel environment.                                      Marion Wheeler, Manchip Island