Helpful Tips

• Nesting platforms can be attached to free-standing poles, or with the help of your local utility company, to extensions on telephone/electric poles.
• Ospreys readily take to human-provided nesting platforms, including those in suburban areas. If the platform is intended to replace a problematic nest site (e.g., nests on power lines or stadium lights), the alternative nest platform should be situated higher than the problem site.
• Attach a predator guard to the post to prevent climbing predators, like raccoons, from climbing to the nest.
• Nests may occassionally outgrow their platforms after years of use. You can contract a tree-care service to trim back the nest in the nonbreeding season.
• Locate the nest pole and platform in an open area with no overhead canopy or interfering vegetation, within a mile of open water. Platforms can even be installed over water in shallow areas.
• Place a few sticks into the nest platform to stimulate Ospreys to inspect the new nest platform.
• Help prevent Osprey chick deaths by picking up and cutting up improperly discarded plastic fishing line and baling twine. Chicks can become entangled in plastic line when incorporated into the nest.