Hayward-- Good questions. Take a look at the new Breeding Bird Atlas, which features a nest-map with freckles mostly over the southwestern half of the state. So you're in prime territory, and having a lake is a big plus in your area. Ospreys still are scarce along the Erie shore; eagles are rumored to be the cause, but they coexist inland. A combination of efforts to stop poisoning birds with pesticides and widespread efforts to introduce ospreys, here and in states to our south, has been quite successful. The introduction efforts largely succeeded by putting up lakeside nesting platforms for a growing population of northbound migrants; most of these platforms have fallen down, but the ospreys were glad to use tall structures of any kind; the Lanes did a survey in their northeastern Ohio territory, and found 24 nests, ALL on such structures (18 on cell towers, 2 on transmission towers, 2 on wooden utility poles, and 2 on wooden hacking structures). So maybe your lake will be reluctantly passed over for lack of such a structure. I have no idea why two (a pair?) would stay this long, though; maybe there's a platform somewhere nearby? I find it hard to believe that wild birds would so often insist on human-built structures to nest; long ago they must have made do with natural selections... Bill W On 6/6/2016 4:57 PM, Hayward Chappell wrote: > I still have one and possibly two ospreys at our little lake in Lawrence > County. > > I am kind of surprised. They have migrated through for past few years but > never stayed this long. We don't have a platform or anything. Is it usual > for them to stay this long? Could they be staying but not breeding? > > thank you- > > hayward chappell > Lawrence County > > -- > Hayward Chappell > 766 Private Rd. 3952 > Willow Wood, OH 45696 > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > > ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]