Well, my osprey friends, we are seeing reports of Ospreys back on the nest in the U.K. and in some more southerly states in the US, so we know our friends are on their way back to us. With the snow cover and frozen lakes here, they may hang out a bit south of here until reliable food sources become available. The rivers are open tho so our first Ospreys may be seen near the Mississippi. I am making lists and assigning nests for monitoring, so we are making the annual plea for help monitoring all these nests in the metro area. For all the wonderful monitors from last year...please let me know if you will be able to continue your careful watching over your nests this year. If others would like to get involved, we always need help. If you have a spotting scope or some good binoculars and can commit to checking a nest once a week and would like to learn more about Ospreys, please contact me at osprey.mn@gmail.com.
It is rare and of immense value to have a field study which continues as long as this one has. This is my 25th year and overall the 33rd year that this population of Ospreys has been monitored...since the first nest attempt in 1986. When I got involved in this effort in 1994, I had only eight nests to watch and last year we had 132! So if you are able and interested in getting involved in a project like this...let me know!!!!!
So, get your scopes, binoculars and cameras out, your field notebook ready, your sunscreen and bug spray in the car! It won’t be long.....
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