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Attracting Ospreys to Lake Massabesic

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Building an Osprey Nest at Lake Massabseic

So how do you build an osprey nest?

Massabesic Audubon Center.

First you select the tree. The best candidate is a tall pine tree near the edge of water, set apart from other trees. Iain MacLeod, Massabesic Center Manager, had already scouted the property, looking for the "right" tree. He found it on the east side of tha Battery Point peninsula. The Manchester Water Works, owner of the property at the water's edge, gave ASNH permission to build the nest. The map below shows the location of the tree, easily visible from the trail that goes out to the water just above it.

Branches are added to the nest.

Next you find people with specific areas of expertise. Iain MacLeod and Chris Martin of ASNH have both built osprey nests. So has Dan Geiger, professional tree climber, environmental consultant, and wetland scientist, of Oak Hill Environmental Services in Loudon, NH. Both he and professional photographer Jack Ainsworth donated their services to ASNH for this project. Also on hand to watch and help were ASNH staffers Becky Suomala, Missi LeBlanc, and Kris Shores, and volunteers John Munier and Dorothy Fitch.

Then you build the nest. We watched (some of us just a little anxiously) as Dan climbed the tree, wearing leg irons and a safety harness. When he neared the top, he selected the group of branches that would support the nest. He cut off nearby branches so they would not grow up around the nest. The goal was to create the effect of a tree that was dead at the top and alive at the bottom.

Don weaves a branch into the nest.

Those on the ground gathered sticks, making a large pile of branches, both dead and alive ("green"), that would form the nest. The sticks ranged from 1 to 2 inches in diameter and were 3 to 6 feet long. The "green" branches could bend, allowing Dan to form the shape of the nest with them. The long thicker sticks formed the base.

The last branches are cut off.

We used a rope and pulley system to hoist the sticks up the tree in a Tyvec bag that was about the size of a large pillowcase. Dan told us what type of sticks he wanted next, and we bundled them together into the bag, then pulled it up to him. We also sent up bags of leaves, bark mulch, and dead grass to fill the spaces between the sticks and create layers.

Finally, Dan cut the trunk off above the nest. On his way back down the tree, he cut off several more limbs to make the nest site more attractive to ospreys. On the ground, we trimmed off the lowest branches so a predator guard can be installed (a project for another day).

Iain MacLeod and other staff and volunteers will keep a close watch on the nest this spring to see if it attracts interest from any osprey. The ospreys will hopefully think that this nest was abandoned by ospreys previously and is now available to them. They will add their own touches to the nest when they decide to use it.