Geese in osprey nest???

[Nancy Betty Baumeister]

Hello, 

Last summer osprey started collecting sticks to build a nest at the top of a 70 foot snag near Willamette park. I’m told that two people saw geese in the nest and apparently they knocked many of the sticks down. 

Why would geese be interested in being that high, and why would they be so disruptive to the accumulating stick nest. 

Nancy (Betty) Bee

 Blog: https://nancybird375.wordpress.com/

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." -Lao Tzu

[Marge Alig]

We did a double take when we saw a pair of geese in an osprey nest above the Willamette at Harrisburg a couple years ago. Apparently it’s not that uncommon. Here’s one of a few videos I found. They were able to manipulate the camera to get a look at the goslings’ recovery down on the ground. It’s seven minutes long so you may want to click through it for the good parts!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xNaBFmrhPKQ

Marge

On Apr 20, 2023, at 8:02 AM, Nancy Betty Baumeister <bee....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello, 

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[Lisa Millbank]

The Western/Moffitt's Canada Goose subspecies that breeds around here is pretty big, around 8-12 pounds, while an Osprey is only about 3-4 pounds.  I'm guessing the geese might have felt the need to expand the nest "bowl" somewhat to accommodate their larger size.  My guess is that they weren't intentionally dropping sticks.  When geese find a nest site, they will lay down and push with their feet to create a depression of the right size, so maybe that caused some of the sticks to fall. 

It isn't too uncommon for them to take over the large nests of raptors.  It's probably a lot less vulnerable to predation than a nest on the ground, even though the goslings have to take the big leap soon after hatching.

It will be interesting to see if the geese or the Ospreys end up in possession of the nest this spring!

Lisa Millbank

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