Ospreys get new lodgings

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

For rent: new high-rise apartment, traditional exterior with open floor plan and great view. Power close by, also lake with fish. Potential love nest.

This dwelling was recently constructed in the Trapper's Point subdivision east of Interstate 25 off Vine Drive. It's 60 feet off the ground and about as big around as a horse trough.

While it's a bit small for humans, the home is just right for an osprey family. The builders, volunteers who live at Trapper's Point, hope to attract tenants next spring when the birds migrate north from their winter playground along the Gulf of Mexico.

The subdivision has many enthusiastic nature lovers, and they got together to build two artificial nests to encourage ospreys to take up permanent residence in their common area, which boasts open land and a stocked lake. The nests were fastened onto two new poles Dec. 14.

The idea for the project was hatched last summer when two ospreys appeared in the neighborhood, attracted by fish in Trapper's Point Lake and by the high-voltage power poles owned by the Western Area Power Authority. The birds returned regularly throughout the season. The plan took flight when WAPA agreed to be a partner. The agency supplied and erected new poles for the nesting structures.

Rodney Jones, environmental specialist for WAPA's Loveland office, said the project was a win-win situation. Ospreys typically seek out the tallest structures they can find for building their nests. They prefer dead conifers, but power poles often serve their needs just fine. Power companies are reluctant landlords, however, because branches from the nest can fall down and hit a conductor. "That could injure the birds or cause a fire," Jones explained. That's why WAPA enthusiastically joined the effort of Trapper's Point residents. The agency donated two new power poles that are not attached to power lines.

WAPA has often relocated osprey nests to artificial platforms. Jones likes the Trapper's Point approach better because it is proactive, providing the nests before they are needed. Homeowners expect the ospreys to use one platform for nesting and the other for an observation and feeding perch.

Spearheading the Trapper's Point project was Bob Streeter, a resident who also happens to be the retired assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "The homeowners here are very interested in having a quality area," he said, with good habitat for both wildlife and humans.

The osprey project was a natural result. The neighbors have already received three grants to enhance their natural area through the Larimer County Open Lands Small Grant Program, and they hope to recoup some of the osprey project costs with a fourth grant.

After a career of overseeing wildlife habitat projects, Streeter said it's "fun to be out there doing it now." Both children and adults pitched in to make the osprey nests in what Streeter called "a community basket-weaving project." Resident Jeff Robinson donated time and material to make the braces beneath the platforms.

Ospreys are not common along the Front Range. According to Jerry Craig, a retired Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist and raptor expert, they were introduced here in the late 1980s when the local Audubon Society pushed to establish an osprey nesting colony in the area. Craig was put in charge of the project, and he flew to Idaho to pick up 15 baby ospreys. He repeated the process for two more years, and the 45 young birds were reared by the DOW and released.

The effort produced positive results. Currently, there are four known breeding pairs of osprey close to Fort Collins, one pair near Loveland and another in Crystal Lakes, plus others in Rocky Mountain National Park. The residents of Trapper's Point hope they can provide a home for another pair. Craig noted that one established pair will attract others.

The osprey is a raptor about the size of a large hawk. Its narrow wings, which are always angled down, give it a gull-like appearance from the ground. Seen from below, it has a white body with darker feathers on the wings and tail. According to Craig, who served as a consultant on the Trapper's Point project, the birds arrive in Colorado in late March or early April, after wintering along the Gulf Coast in Latin America. They head south again in September or October. The life span of an osprey is 20 to 30 years. They start breeding at age 2 and may be successful at age 4 or 5. Eggs are laid in mid- to late April, and the youngsters fledge from the nest in mid-July. A nest typically produces three or four baby birds.

If the Trapper's Point neighbors receive their fourth grant from the county, they plan to build a viewing area off County Road 5. From that spot, the public would be able to watch the ospreys and other wildlife.