The Port Lincoln Osprey group and the township of Tumby Bay helped install a tower platform on Tumby Island Conservation Park to protect an endangered species.
The artificial nest platform was installed on Tumby Island CP to help the Osprey successfully raise young during the breeding season was completed on June 8 and it was lifted onto the site by a helicopter.
Advertisement
The Friends of Osprey members were involved in preparing the site as they excavated 2 meter deep holes to insert PVC sleeves which helped to install the half tonne platform.
The tower nest platform sat 3.5m above the ground, and it had been designed to be out of reach of fox predation.
It was the first platform to be installed on the Eyre Peninsula, and it was the seventh to be installed around Yorke Peninsula in the past 12 months.
Friends of Osprey Group vice president Ian Falkenberg said the artificial nest platforms had proven to work well in other areas, but the nest at Tumby Island had failed in previous years, as the group discovered foxes had taken the eggs and caused the nests to fail in the past few years.
Mr Falkenberg said there were less than 50 pairs of Osprey statewide, and the group's cameras on the new nest site captured the male and female birds returning to the nest the following days since installation, where they began refurbishing the new nest to prepare for the breeding season and egg laying.
He said the Friends of Osprey group would monitor nests around Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and Kangaroo Island throughout the breeding season - Mr Falkenberg said the birds would normally lay their eggs in July.
"They will incubate for about 38 days and once the eggs hatch, they willraise the young Ospreys," Mr Falkenberg said.
"We expect the young to fledge about November and hopefully we will see a couple of young in this nest - which will be the first time the nest would have fledged young for a number of years, this would be a fantasticoutcome."
The groups' next plan is to attach Satellite trackers to the young birds to track their movements and determine how they hunt and forage for food.
"If the project on Tumby Island is successful, we will be able to understand where they hunt and forage for food during the first year of their life," Mr Falkenberg said.
"Other long-term plans will include installing more platforms in other areas where predators are causing breeding failures."
