Here’s why big bird nests are popping up in Pascagoula

Osprey like to nest on top of tall poles or in the tops of dead trees along the coastline and up the rivers.

Dr. Bud Ehlert knows this and has worked for six months to construct and install 10 platforms around Pascagoula that might attract nesting pairs of osprey.

It’s something that’s been on his mind since he retired as a radiologist at Singing River Hospital. He said he went online to put together a design for the platform — made of a heavy cattle wire with a perch on either side. He added palmetto fronds to encourage the birds to get started on a nest.

The platforms are bolted to the top of a 40- to 50-foot pole, and most have already been installed, six to eight feet into the ground.

The nest bed design is simple, a flat place with the perches, he said. The osprey do the rest, carrying in small branches and all sorts of material they pick up.

The nests are huge, with an abundance of material. Osprey select sites and begin building in March and April, according to the Pascagoula River Audubon Center, which has a nest bed on its property built by Moss Point boy scouts.

Ehlert has had help with his project — from the city’s Recreation Department, his friend Calvin Russell, and Noblett Electric that provided the special truck for installing the long poles and beds.

Six are up. Four more to go.

You will be able to see them at: The Point Park; the north end of IG Levy Park; the River Park, north of the high-rise bridge; the U.S. 90 causeway to Gautier, behind the welcome sign; near the Magnolia Birding Pier; at the Lighthouse Park boat launch; in Jim Horne's horse pasture at the east end of the beach; at Singing River Yacht Club’ in a private yard near the Yacht Club and in a private yard off Pascagoula Street, near the Inner Harbor.

Ehlert said he watches the birds, also called sea hawks, fish near his home on the Inner Harbor. Osprey can hover as they time their dive for a fish.

“They are one of the few birds that can hover,” Ehlert said. “That’s why there’s an airplane called the Osprey. It can hover.”

“They are just cool birds,” he said. And he thinks the nest beds going up “give a homey aspect to the community.”

He said it may take a year or two for a pair to select his nest bed. He said some already have shown an interest. They saw a bald eagle looking at one of the nest areas.

He said they will be finished installing the last of the nests soon and after that, “it’s good luck to the birds. It’s up to them.”

Dr. Ehlert built the nesting platforms. The nests are on public and private property.

This story was originally published February 21, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Here’s why big bird nests are popping up in Pascagoula."