Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Osprey nests facilitated by San Diego Unified Port District

They scare away the seagulls

Osprey nest in Pepper Park
Osprey nest in Pepper Park

The two manmade platforms in the port area of National City are home to young osprey this year — for at least the third time in the past five years. There are two chicks on the platform near Pepper Park and at least one on the platform near the Port Terminal, port workers say.

The San Diego Unified Port District built the platforms — a total of five, including others on Shelter Island and in Imperial Beach and Chula Vista — for the raptors after port workers noticed the birds were building nests and laying eggs on light poles. Those egg-laying adventures often ended disastrously with the eggs broken on the ground, according to port spokeswoman Marguerite Elicone.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"The port put the osprey nesting platforms there so they would have a safe place to breed and hatch their young," she said.

Osprey have a nearly six-foot wingspan and eat mostly fish. While they are not a threatened or endangered species, their eggs were made fragile by pesticides including DDT. They are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The birds mate for life and their critical breeding period is from March 15 to August 15, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The five platforms cost about $5000 to design, build, and install and serve a valuable purpose for port tenants as well as the birds, Elicone said.

"They scare away the seagulls and that keeps bird poop off the cars that come into our port and are parked near the terminal," she said.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

How a Childhood Car Crash Created San Diego's Most Tenacious Personal Injury Lawyer

Osprey nest in Pepper Park
Osprey nest in Pepper Park

The two manmade platforms in the port area of National City are home to young osprey this year — for at least the third time in the past five years. There are two chicks on the platform near Pepper Park and at least one on the platform near the Port Terminal, port workers say.

The San Diego Unified Port District built the platforms — a total of five, including others on Shelter Island and in Imperial Beach and Chula Vista — for the raptors after port workers noticed the birds were building nests and laying eggs on light poles. Those egg-laying adventures often ended disastrously with the eggs broken on the ground, according to port spokeswoman Marguerite Elicone.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"The port put the osprey nesting platforms there so they would have a safe place to breed and hatch their young," she said.

Osprey have a nearly six-foot wingspan and eat mostly fish. While they are not a threatened or endangered species, their eggs were made fragile by pesticides including DDT. They are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The birds mate for life and their critical breeding period is from March 15 to August 15, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The five platforms cost about $5000 to design, build, and install and serve a valuable purpose for port tenants as well as the birds, Elicone said.

"They scare away the seagulls and that keeps bird poop off the cars that come into our port and are parked near the terminal," she said.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Todd Gloria gets cash from McDonald's franchise owners

Phil's BBQ owner for Larry Turner
Next Article

The White-crowned sparrow visits, Liquidambars show their colors

Bat populations migrate westward
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader