High-rise platform ready for nest

Location, location, location.

This site has it all: nice trees, a stream, no power lines — and lots of rodents to feast on.

It’s a real estate deal a group of volunteers hope two great horned owls won’t be able to pass up.

This week, the volunteers erected a nesting platform for the owls to build on. The owls, whose territory covers about a mile-wide circle with 72nd and Q Streets at its center, have had trouble finding good locations for nests in the 10 years they have been in the area.

A couple of times the owls have tried the Fun Plex, which usually results in them dive-bombing people or their owlets having to be rescued by Raptor Recovery Nebraska. They found a cottonwood tree on private property, but that didn’t work out either.

The effort to help started after Denise Lewis of Raptor Recovery made an off-hand comment that it would be nice if the owls had a place of their own.

Katie Blesener, another volunteer with the organization, decided to act on that idea. She managed to get a lot of people involved in the project in a short time.

The Omaha Public Power District donated a 50-foot pole. Fifteen Metropolitan Community College students in the utility line technician program agreed to build a platform for the pole and to erect the structure. Builders Supply Co. agreed to provide the materials and to allow the platform to be built on land the company owns.

Thursday morning, everyone gathered — sort of a miniature barn-raising.

The college students did most of the work, digging a 7-foot deep post hole, attaching the platform they had built to the pole, raising the structure and then setting it firmly in the ground. Their instructor, Tim Bowling, was there to offer advice, but for the most part, he stayed out of their way.

“I let them do it,” he said. “They owned this project.”

Penny Boykins, coordinator of Metro’s service learning program, and some of her staff were there to watch.

Also on hand was Scott Heldridge of Builders Supply. His bosses, Bob and Ron Wellendorf, had signed off on the project and the land use. “We were thrilled to take part in the project,” Heldridge said.

Lewis and Blesener were everywhere, answering questions, offering encouragement and distributing treats.

Betsy Finch, called the “grande dame” of Raptor Recovery Nebraska, walked around the site with Halsey, a horned owl her organization had nursed back to health after it was hit by a car. Injuries made it impossible to release the bird to the wild, so Halsey has become part of Raptor Recovery’s education team.

After two hours of labor, the nesting platform was in place and all the equipment was moved out.

There is no guarantee that the wild owl pair will use the platform right away, Lewis said, adding that Raptor Recovery probably won’t check to see if there is a nest there until after the first of the year.

“But owls are curious,” she added. “So they’ll be checking it out.”

The owls, which mate for life, probably will make up their minds soon. November is nesting month for the species.

Contact the writer: 444-1067, carol.bicak@owh.com