By Brennan Phillips
Special to the Penticton Western News
For at least the third year in a row, a couple of Canadian geese have taken over the osprey nest on the platform on the Warren Avenue turn-off from the Channel Parkway.
“The geese usually show up in March, and the opsrey in April; so the geese are ahead of the game,” said Richard Cannings, South Okanagan-West Kootenay MP and avid birder. “In that situation, with two things of roughly equal size, the ones there first tend to hold onto it.”
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This pair of Canadian geese arrived around the end of February, and took up residence in the empty osprey nest. The nest is in an ideal location; the platform is high up off the ground and away from any potential predators.
The location next to both the Okanagan River Channel and the oxbows provides access to plentiful amounts of food, and such locations, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, are prized by Canadian geese. The pre-built nest may be the biggest draw though as it’s easier than spending the effort to build their own home each spring.
“It’s a bit of a hassle to build a new nest,” said Cannings. “It’s a common behaviour, and geese are long lived, so if things work out they do the same thing the next year.”
Every year they arrive and take up residence until the osprey appear around mid-to-late-April. At that point, if the geese refuse to move on, the osprey will hover around, and last year, according to Canning, ended up building a new nest across the channel, where they stayed until the geese left. The osprey haven’t yet appeared, but it’s only a matter of time.
“I noticed the geese myself about a week or 10 days ago,” said Dianne Bersea, a birdwatcher and member of the South Okanagan Naturalists. “I haven’t seen any osprey around there yet, not any that I could tell.”
But for now, one goose can be seen in the nest constantly during the day, with the other either in the waters of the oxbow below, or out gathering for food.
The osprey are due to return in the next couple weeks, and then one of the two couples will have to find somewhere else to stay.
At least until next year.
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