Ready for osprey
<p>A female osprey approaches a nesting box with materials for building up her nest on a piling in Cougar Bay on July 24, 2013.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Osprey are at home in North Idaho.
And an army of groups and individuals have rallied to make sure it stays that way.
Twenty-five new nesting platforms have been erected in Cougar Bay on Lake Coeur d'Alene just in time for the birds' annual arrival.
"It needed to be done," said Ed Haglund of Lake City Marine. "The old ones were rotting and falling down."
The intent, Haglund said, is to preserve the majestic birds' summer presence on local waterways.
"They're beautiful," Haglund said. "People love watching them dive to get fish. Within a week or so we should start seeing them."
Osprey babies are born mid-summer. Some are tagged for research on migration patterns.
Volunteers from the Cougar Bay Osprey Protective Association and the Kootenai Environmental Alliance have assisted Haglund and John Condon of North Idaho Maritime with the osprey project. Idaho Fish and Game provided the platforms. The Nature Conservancy, which owns 80 acres in the bay, has also been a project supporter.
Forty-four new pilings were installed in Cougar Bay last summer. Nesting platforms are installed on the pilings to make nesting sites. Other pilings are driven about 20 feet away to give the males a resting spot.
"This should give them a home for the next 30 years," Haglund said.
Haglund estimates the amount of donated materials and time has equated to about $40,000.
With more than 200 nesting pairs, North Idaho is home to one of the largest osprey populations in the West.