We suspect a first year osprey pair built their nest in a live scotch pine tree on our island in 2012. They reared one chick successfully. The nest blew out of the tree over the winter of 2012-2013. Three birds returned and attempted to rebuild unsuccessfully. The tree really is an inadequate base. We think the original pair found a new nest site. The Osgoode Township Fish and Game Club installed a nest platform on a pole beside the tree on April 30, 2013. The lone male (last year's chick?) was still hanging around the tree and within 12 hours he began to deliver sticks to the new nest platform. 30 hours later he was joined by a second osprey, May 1, 2013.
June 10, 2013: As you know, just hours after the platform went up, the male bird who was (we suspect) last year's chick, started delivering sticks. The next day he was joined by a female who started arranging the sticks into a nest. This went on sporadically for several weeks and actually is still going on to a lesser extent. We usually see at least one of the birds once a day. They come and eat their fish on the top of the hydro pole near the nest, like the parents taught him to do last year. We have seen him deliver fish to her. But they don't seem to be doing any more work on the nest, or on getting a clutch going. As of the past few weeks we rarely see the female.
Although they seem to like the nest and certainly have adopted it as home base, we wonder if they were both last year's chicks and are too young to start a family.
The platform looks great and it has a good amount of sticks on it. I'm sure they will weather this next winter and that next spring we will have a much different story to tell.