Ospreys at Salt Fork

There are ospreys at Salt Fork State Park now - or maybe there have been and I didn't know it. On the way home from Autumn the other evening Dad stopped to show me a nest he spotted from Route 22. He says that the park built platforms in the lake for them to nest, but this one liked its own choice better, near the lake with a good view. Momma was up there, above the left pole, chattering away the whole time we watched.

Ospreys are about 21 to 24 inches tall with a wingspan of 54 to 72
inches.

Can you imagine how big that nest is?

"Ospreys form life-long breeding pairs and return to the same nests every year, enhancing the nest size and breadth. Some of these lovingly and carefully crafted nests have even been used for 70 years. Made of masses of sticks with inner linings of moss, bark, or grass, their nests are quite large, measuring over three feet deep by five feet wide and weighing almost 400 pounds, approximately the weight of a medium-sized motorcycle."

This site has interesting info about ospreys nesting on utility poles in Oregon.  Note their map doesn't show Ohio as an osprey nesting site.  And their size stats aren't quite as large as mentioned above.