Real estate is at a premium in Northern Virginia, and new houses are jammed into the tiniest of spaces. Unfortunately, this channel marker did not appear to be quite big enough to support the nest of an osprey couple. During a recent visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I watched the ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) carry a number of sticks to the marker as they unsuccessfully attempted to construct a nest—most of the sticks simply fell off the sides of the marker.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I think it is the branch manager trying to set up a satellite office.
🙂
Obviously not the most practical place… 🙂
This must be an inexperienced pair. My sister has seen a lot of unsuccessful osprey couples on the platform in Tar Creek behind her house. The ospreys usually lose out to Canada Geese. In the rare instances where they manage to construct a nest, it usually ends up in the creek. But they keep trying. Nice images!
Thanks, Nina. I agree with you that this must be an inexperienced pair. There are quite a few ospreys at this wildlife refuge and the early-arrivers seem to have snagged the existing nests from last year.
Life is not fair!