2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

2019 AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are so many people who have been instrumental in helping Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch continue this Osprey research. This year, 2019, marked my 26th year of monitoring all known nests in the eight-county metro area surrounding the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, and I could not do this without a great deal of help. The careful, monitoring of these nests and the consistent collection and analysis of data over so many years may prove to be a significant contribution to understanding the world we live in, the health of our environment as well as overall productivity and behavior of this population of Ospreys.

Special thanks to Alice Stoddard, Barb Ankrum,  Carol Christians, Perry Westphal, Dani Porter Born, Barbara Gaughan, Carol Reitan, Meg Smith, Jean and Rod DeZeeuw, Ellie Crosby, JoAnn Chase, Debbie Jordan, Glen Gauvin, Ann Merritt, Stuart McKernan, Larry Luebben, Sue Welter, Dave Hanzel, John Clouse, Jack Kimmerle, Marie Culhane, Debbie Cohn, Phyllis Bofferding, and  Larry Waldhauser, for sharing their observations, their commitment to this effort, their photos, and their love for these birds.

Thanks to all the private property owners who are such important and wonderful hosts to our Ospreys, and who have provided me access to these nests for monitoring.

Special thanks to Tim Fenstermacher and Nate Paulson at Aggregate Industries for their cooperation in allowing me to monitor nests on their property and the help with rescues.

A very heartfelt thanks to all who contributed financially to our project in 2019: Barbara Pierson and Paul Patton, Ruth Rechtzigel, Carol Friendly, Lori Lucke, Mark McGuire, Debbie Jordan, Robert Van De Loo, and Cathy Gagliardi! 

I also want to send a special thanks to John Howe at the Raptor Resource Project for their generous financial support.

I am deeply grateful for all the help I have received in so many different forms, and for showing your faith in my ongoing efforts to continue this research study.

 

 

Vanessa Greene     

February 2020

Deep thanks.....

Today I want to acknowledge some generous donations that we have received in recent weeks. We sincerely appreciate the contributions made to our Go Fund Me page by Catherine Cohen, Michael Academia, and Judith Notari. And a special thanks to Tamalyn Page for her donation, made in memory of John D. Cusimano. We are so grateful to all the people who care about these magnificent raptors and feel moved to help us continue the research and rescues. What a wonderful way to remember and honor a dear, departed friend who loved to watch the Ospreys in Washington state.

May Johns spirit soar with the Ospreys.

I deeply appreciate the support.

I will be posting the annual acknowledgements and results from 2019 very soon....but wanted to put out an immediate thanks to these kind and generous folks.

Help?

Here we are mid January....still trying to solve some problems with old nestpoles and old nestboxes. The photos show some poles that are leaning and a box that needs replacing. We have been struggling to find help with these structural issues for over a year now. The big power company in this area referred us to a gentleman who agreed to help us, but after many communication problems, and his relocation to another state, nothing has been accomplished. It’s very disappointing. I have exhausted all known options for help with these situations so as a last attempt we are throwing his out to all the readers of this page in hopes that someone might be able to provide assistance. If anyone has contacts with someone who has the skills and necessary equipment to either replace these deteriorating poles, or just straighten and stabilize them to buy us some time, please let us know. We held our breath all last summer when all these nests had chicks in them and we gave a huge sigh of relief when all chicks fledged safely, but we are not confident that these poles will survive another year of nesting. Many of the nest poles in the metro area are becoming quite old and are deteriorating. We do not have the money to buy new poles or to build new nest boxes. Sometimes a Boy Scout will take on a project like this to earn their Eagle Scout badge and we would be happy to work with anyone who is interested in taking this on. Feel free to share this post in hopes that we can find someone who cares about these birds and might be able to contribute some assistance so the ospreys can return to a safe nest in April. Any and all help will be deeply appreciated. Questions can be sent to Osprey.mn@gmail.com Thanks.