Friday, April 9, 2010

Osprey Return to Their Doc Harris Home

They’re back! The pair of osprey who’ve made the stadium lights at Doc Harris their home for several years are back in town and have apparently embraced their new digs.

When planning for the new Doc Harris stadium, there was much concern for the wellbeing of this pair of birds who would arrive for the 2010 nesting season to find the old stadium lights missing. In fact, it became a condition of the building permits that a new nesting place be created for the birds.

The Doc Harris design team from DOWA, Inc., tapped the expertise at Clark Public Utilities to design the nests. TEAM Construction, the contractor for the project, then built the extensions on existing poles. In order be attractive to the birds, the nests were designed to be higher than the new stadium lights will be when Doc Harris is completed this summer. Twigs and nesting material from the ospreys’ previous nests were also placed in the nests.

“It was a thoughtful, concerted effort of those involved,” commented capital program manager Heidi Rosenberg. “We’re thrilled to see the birds return.”