Soaring ospreys now have a new place to nest — thanks to SLO County nonprofit
In order to encourage ospreys to nest, a nonprofit organization has installed two new platforms at a Los Osos nature preserve.
The two new nest boxes designed to attract the visually striking raptors were installed in a cypress tree on Friday morning at Sweet Springs Nature Preserve in Los Osos.
The Morro Coast Audubon Society owns and manages the preserve. The group raised $5,000 for the platforms, which offer the birds of prey a safe place to start families that’s visible to birdwatchers.
“We want people to be able to observe the birds,” Judy Neuhauser, president of the Morro Coast Audubon Society, said via phone. “If people can observe them, they have a reason to preserve them.”
Over the past decade, more ospreys have been appearing around the Morro Bay Estuary, where they’ve taken up year-round residence, Neuhauser said.
One osprey even tried to build a nest on the mast of the Windwalker, a derelict boat tied up to the North T-Pier in Morro Bay, the Audubon Society said in a news release.
Osprey like to nest high above the ground or water, in sight a body of water that can provide the fish they need for food, according to the release.
The birds have been seen fishing in the Baywood Inlet, in other channels of the Estuary, and along the coast from Avila Beach to north of Cayucos.
They have also taken to perching in trees at Sweet Springs over the past few years, making raptor experts believe that the North Coast nature preserve is “a potentially excellent site for a nest platform,” the release noted.
Audubon Society builds osprey nesting platforms
In addition to covering Los Osos platform costs, the money raised by the Morro Coast Audubon Society will go toward funding a coastal development permit needed to add one or two platforms in Morro Bay.
The nesting platforms are made of a rust-proof fiberglass composite and resin designed to appeal to osprey.
Sticks and twigs will be fastened to the platforms before installation, mimicking nests, which encourages osprey to examine and consequently occupy the platforms.
While the platforms have been known to work elsewhere, there’s no guarantee the birds will nest in them in Los Osos.
“It is a bit of a gamble,” Dave Clendenen, Sweet Springs Nature Preserve manager and raptor expert, said in the release. “It may be several years before osprey accept the offering. It may also be that one of the other raptors in the area will take over the nest platforms. We will provide an opportunity and await the results.”
Volunteers recently observed two ospreys soaring overhead in the area, calling to each other, Clendenen said.
“It really looked like courtship to me, so we are hopeful” they’ll nest in the new platforms,” he said.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 1:57 PM.
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