Canada geese have displaced an osprey nest at Ogren Park at Allegiance Field, meaning no birds of prey close to the home of the Missoula Osprey (rookie; Pioneer League) this season.
In past years osprey nested on a platform beyond the outfield fence, occasionally providing some entertainment to fans after snaring a fish from the nearby Clark Fork River. The good news: there are still osprey nesting in the general area (after all, the Clark Fork is a major river), and fans will undoubtedly get a view at some point.
The geese and their newly hatched brood left the nest the second week of May, but not in time for the osprey or the Osprey, University of Montana biologist Erick Greene said Tuesday.
“There’s not going to be a pair on that platform out there, so (baseball fans) won’t see them, at least not the way they have in the past,” said Greene, who’s part of a team monitoring some 200 osprey nests around western Montana.
After at least two attempts at making their nests of stick and baling twine elsewhere in the area, the osprey pair was allowed by NorthWestern Energy to build a home on an electrical pole alongside the Milwaukee Trail. It’s roughly 500 yards to the south, and within sight of the birds’ old haunts, which have sat vacant for three weeks now.
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