Warrenton, Oregon ~ July 21, 2002
Lee first pointed out to me this osprey nest located a few minutes outside of Astoria, a short distance past the point where Highway 101 turns south to venture down the Oregon Coast. With luck we would see osprey each year, and I remember watching the parents bringing food for the chicks. The highway also crossed an elk trail and grazing field where the animals would gather in herds that numbered in the scores.There is no more osprey nest now, and the elk-grazing here is finished. Instead, you can enjoy the parking lots and stocked shelves of several huge big-box stores with one more currently being built. The tree remains, but it's now so close to the new construction and cleared forest that the osprey have given it up. I still don't know why our small population "needs" such huge stores, or if they will sell enough products to stay open. I can imagine what their incursion is doing and will do to the small local businesses we say we care about and want to supprt. I also know I already miss the wild areas, the elk and the osprey that had learned to coexist with the narrower old highway and with us.
