Utah Osprey Project

WOW 🤩

I never thought I’d get to witness an osprey diving right through a rainbow, but that’s exactly what happened. The real question is what’s at the end of that rainbow. Was it a pot of gold or was it something else? If you know the Osprey, then I think you know what it found at the end of its rainbow.

Today we completed our first ever Osprey Nest Cleanup! 🦅

HUGE thank you to the incredible crew from Heber Light & Power for donating their time and bucket truck to help us clean out 11 osprey nests around the Heber Valley. We removed bailing twine, barbed wire, and other materials that can be deadly to ospreys. Last year we sadly lost several birds from entanglement.

Huge thanks also to Utah Division of Wildlife Resources for their support on this project. Lastly thanks to Patti at Great Basin Wildlife Rescue for the idea. The nests are now safer (and cleaner!) for next year’s returning ospreys!

More and more ospreys are getting tangled. We are working to fix that!

After discovering an osprey hanging upside down, tangled in baling twine on an artificial nest platform in southwestern Colorado, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, district wildlife manager Nate Martinez wasn’t sure how to safely reach the distressed raptor, so he asked Nate Bryant of La Plata Electric Association for help. Bryant navigated his way to the osprey, dodging razor-sharp talons as he carefully untangled it and it flew off. For his bravery and skill, Bryant was awarded a CPW Junior Wildlife Officer badge by Martinez, a small token of gratitude for his life-saving act. “Thanks a ton, Nate(s),” the CPW wrote. “You helped this osprey live to fly another day.”

Today we got a call about an Osprey in the Coalville area that was tangled. It seems to have bailing twine tangled around it's feet and then somehow became tangled to a tree branch. Huge thanks to Rocky Mountain Power for sending their Park City crew out fast. Unfortunately while trying to free the bird it snapped the branch off. They were able to see it's nesting platform where it landed and we will monitor the bird. Unfortunately any attempts to reach the bird from the platform will scare it off again, so we will have to hope it manages to free its feet from the twine. We are monitoring the nest and hope to have a resolution soon!

This is why we exist! Bailing twine is a growing problem with Ospreys and the more we can remove from their nests, the more of these situations we can avoid.

Surfs up!

I think this might be the best display I’ve ever seen of an Osprey air-surfing on the back of a fish. It’s nesting season, and when a male lands a big one, he doesn’t just bring it home quietly. Oh no! He makes an entrance.He climbs high into the sky, fish clutched tightly in his razor sharp talons and the performance begins. He drops low, arcs upward, pauses mid-air, and lets out a cry that echoes across the water. “Look at this catch! Look what I brought home!”It’s pride. It’s pageantry. It’s love, duty, and a bit of bragging… all rolled into one.His mate watches from the nest, calm but clearly impressed. The other males? They try not to look. But they see. They always see. “Here comes Bob again,” they grumble. “Always with the biggest fish.”The females nearby? Every single one of them eyes Bob and his impressive aerial display. How can they not? He’s the perfect Osprey package. This clip captures the final moments of his aerial display and you can tell: this bird isn’t just feeding his family. He’s making sure everyone knows exactly who brought dinner.

If you love Ospreys as much as we do and want to watch live nest cameras, click here ---> https://hdontap.com/search/?query=osprey

What an amazing shot!
📸:Winslow Robbins

We asked ChatGPT to make an osprey version of the Eagle Emoji icon and we think it did a pretty good job! What do you think? Should we start a petition for apple to add it? 😂

The Ospreys are back!

Hello world! We are excited to share with everyone on Facebook the work we are doing to help the ospreys in Utah. Follow us to keep up with our work.

utahospreyproject.com