Ospreys

 I walked through North End Shipyard this morning.  I’ve decided to walk every morning and observe.  I’ve decided to spend my summer learning new things as much from experience and observation as I can manage.  Which, admittedly, isn’t much different from my life as it’s always been, but this time I want to share.

I found an osprey’s nest.  It was built on a high platform, obviously man made, which dominated the surrounding area.  So why, in the middle of North End Shipyard, am I seeing a deliberate action to attract ospreys to roost?  Well, as I thought about it, I began to see it differently.  See those tall masts in the background?  There is no way to avoid ospreys.  They have been in Rockland Harbor long before any of us.  They are instinct driven to build their nests on high spots.  The clever boatyard managers decided to reframe the problem from “How can we get the ospreys out of our rigging?” to “What can we do to encourage ospreys to nest elsewhere?”  They worked with, not against nature and built the osprey pole.  They watched the ospreys.  They learned.  Just by paying attention to what was around them.