Guest Blog By Think Wild Volunteer, Heather McNeil
Osprey.
White chest and head with a band around the eyes of blackish brown that makes them look like they’re akin to Zorro. Golden eyes that flash as they dive for a fish, talons outstretched. Excellent and clever anglers, catching fish successfully every twelve minutes. Barbed pads on the soles of their feet to hold those slippery fish as they fly back to the nest with the fish’s head forward so as to avoid wind resistance.
Where do you find osprey? 
Where there’s water. A recent hike with my Golden Retriever, Rowan, along the Deschutes River allowed me to hear the distinct call of an osprey. Binoculars amplified her as she vaulted out of the nest far up at the top of a dead pine tree. She had a distinctive heavy flapping beat, her white chest and legs startling against the blue sky. Minutes later she settled back into the nest and tended to her chick(s). During the ten minutes I observed she came and went twice, each time announcing her departure and return with loud, sharp chirps.
The nest is a grand display of interwoven branches, large enough to hold a human toddler and obviously carefully tended to over the years in order for it to be strong enough to endure winds, snowstorms and heavy rain. The dead tree that supports it is a “snag,” a term for dead trees that are left upright to decompose naturally. Dead? Not at all, for it is home to the osprey as well as other birds, insects, and, if Rowan has anything to say about it, chipmunks and Douglas squirrels.
Snags are harder to find due to forest clearing in order to prevent fires spreading. So what’s an osprey to do?
That’s where Think Wild comes in.
Think Wild is a nonprofit wildlife center based in Bend that provides wildlife conservation, education, rescue, and rehabilitation throughout Central and Eastern Oregon. One of their activities is to help citizens, furry, feathered or human, to cohabitate and thrive. That includes humane exclusions from homes, such as vent covers or deck barriers; nest boxes and perches to encourage wildlife in more appropriate areas; nest sites for owls and bats, and, beginning this year, osprey platforms.
Why?
Osprey populations have rebounded in Oregon due to the 1972 ban on DDT and a reduction in environmental contaminants. The increase in utility structures provides them with a favorable nesting site, high enough to be on the lookout for piscine prey, but also posing a danger to the birds. Last summer, Think Wild became involved with the rescue of a fledgling osprey in a nest that had been knocked off a power line by a power company in order to prevent fire risk. The young bird was stabilized and, with the help of the power company, a new nesting platform was built at a better location. The parents returned and all was well. According to Cornell Lab’s All About Bird web page (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/overview#), “Such platforms have become an important tool in reestablishing ospreys….”
Want more fascinating facts about ospreys?
The oldest known osprey was banded in 1973 and found in 1998 in Virginia. Twenty-five years old! Their success rate at catching a fish is 70 percent. They have a reversible outer toe that allows them to grasp with two toes in front and two in back. They are generally monogamous. They can fly up to 130 feet into the air before diving into water. The species is at least 11 million years old. They have eight distinctive vocalizations to express feelings. They do migrate—one flew 2700 miles in 2008—but they always return to their original nesting site. (https://www.treehugger.com/fascinating-facts-about-the-odd-but-awesome-osprey-4864541)
Which brings us back to the platforms and the safe home they provide for these amazing, beautiful, clever raptors. Think Wild is hoping to provide more of these platforms in Central Oregon, with the financial help of a grant, and observations by staff and volunteers. Thank you, Think Wild, for always thinking about what’s best for our wildlife.
