A pair of feathery friends quickly turned into pests when they picked the spot for their home – right in front of a traffic camera!
And they had no intentions of moving either.
Meet the ospreys, ready for their close-up on a traffic camera pointed at an approach to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland.
Can’t see? Too bad. They’re building a nest. As biologist Jonathan McKnight explains:
“This time of the year ospreys fairly regularly chose wacky places to build nests.”
First they built a nest.
Then Maryland Transportation Authority workers tore it down.
The ospreys built another one, same place.
The workers tore it down.
The birds rebuilt.
The workers removed it – with the approval of fish and wildlife since no eggs had yet been laid.
One Washington DC TV station followed the flap live.
The transportation authority even gave them names: Ozzie and Harriet.
After all, ospreys tend to mate for life. Three times, Ozzie and Harriet built nests only to have them destroyed.
And then came the last straw – make that the last stick, a big stick.
Ozzie and Harriet were going for four. What did the spokesman for the transportation authority do?
But like the old sitcom, this story has a happy ending.
The transportation authority built Ozzie and Harriet a new home. The platform was placed about 10 feet away from the latest camera they were blocking. Workers put some of their old nest material in the platform and voila – the ospreys came, adding more twigs.
