Community members watched as a crane lifted workers to the osprey nest that occupied one of Hayward Field’s stadium lights early Wednesday afternoon. The endangered bird’s nest was removed after orders from the athletic department were cleared.@@http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/osprey/id@@
Last year, the same birds built a nest in the same spot, and many University employees and students alike watched the avian family grow. However, this year the Olympic Trials raised concerns with the athletic department for both the safety of the birds and the patrons of the field.
“We immediately contacted the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife because while building the nest, osprey tend to drop sticks and debris,” athletic department spokesperson Craig Pintens said, “We had a safety concern, and they had told us there was a concern for the birds’ safety.”@@http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/craigpintens@@
Last year, the nest caused only a few problems.
“They built one last year and it fledged three chicks,” said Diana Haas, metadata specialist for the Law School. Neuroscience research associate Tom Titus saw the birds as an addition to the field.@@http://libweb.uoregon.edu/law/aboutus.html http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Tom*A*Titus@@
“People on campus want the osprey. They know they lived successfully last year,” Titus said. “They should have maybe considered some other options.”
Louise Shimmel, the executive director of the Cascade Raptor Center, confirms that the birds would more than likely have been in danger.@@http://www.eraptors.org/staff.htm@@
“From the birds’ point of view, if they just started laying eggs, eggs could have been laid any day now,” Shimmel said. “They would only be about two weeks old when the Olympic trials started.”
According to Shimmel, the sounds that are common occurrences in track meets, such as gunshots and loud crowds, could potentially drive away the parents of the newly hatched chicks.
“The issue is if they abandon the nest once the babies had hatched,” Shimmel said. “If that did happen, we could step in. The timing is bad, they should have done something earlier in the season.”
As many witnesses report, the osprey had already started trying to rebuild the nest by Wednesday evening.
“They’ll keep trying to build a nest back,” said University Professor Deborah Schlenoff, who also is a member of the Lane County Audubon Society. “Despite the fact that there are all these spikes.”@@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Deb*Schlenoff@@
Currently, there are deterrents on top of the lights, and the athletic department has planned continuous efforts to keep the birds away from the light.
“We will be installing devices to prevent osprey nests,” Pintens said. “Our goal is not to remove all the nests. I can see one on our practice field. So we’re not going to plan to remove that nest. Provided that it’s not a public safety concern, we’ll work with the osprey to accommodate.”
However, currently there are only plans to keep the osprey from building a nest. Schlenoff had hoped that there would be other measures taken.
“We were really hoping that the University will consider putting up an alternative nest platform.” Schlenoff said. “We were very disappointed that that didn’t happen.”