Posting rules....

I need to establish the guidelines for posts on this page and explain my reasoning behind it. We do not post specific nest sites here to protect the birds. Any such posts will be deleted or hidden. I am doing my best here to study and protect these raptors which were eliminated from this area in the middle part of the last century. A reintroduction effort shared between several organizations worked very hard for many years to reestablish them here in the metro area. In my 23 years of research I have seen remarkable success from our restoration efforts, but have also seen some very bad behavior by humans near nest sites. Our oldest male had to be euthanized after being found to have BB pellets in him. A young osprey was found on the ground and taken to the Raptor center a few years ago. When they determined that the chick was ready to go back to her nest, I released her. She did not fly to the nest but took off in a different direction on a very hot day. She was not found for 24 hours, when she finally made it back to the nest. She was clearly distressed, dehydrated and had not eaten in all that time. A photographer was near the nest that day and I explained the situation and asked him to please stay back for 24 hours and allow that chick to be fed and to readjust after being in rehab. Within an hour that photographer was set up right under the nest and the adults were giving alarm calls. I have rescued a chick that prefledged after someone flew a drone over a nest to get photos. Last year a volunteer observed a well known birder setting his camera up near a nest and then he walked around making noise and trying to get the Ospreys to fly off the nest so he could get photos. The chicks were close to fledging time when this occurred, a rather tenuous time for the youngsters.
These are just a few examples. I know that decent, ethical birders and photographers exist, and in fact that includes most of the birding public....but when something is posted online, anyone can read it, including those that are not ethical. So I am choosing to err on the side of being too protective rather than being the one who leads someone who is not ethical to a nesting site. I hope you all understand. I posted a similar message last year and received overwhelming support for my decision. Please email me privately with reports of new nests. Thanks everyone.