This page provides a history of the Georgian Bay Osprey Society and its work.

The History of the GBOS

The Osprey was something completely new for cottagers at Go Home Bay in the 1970's. Even Antoine King, who died at the age of 103, never recalled seeing one all his life on the Bay. That is why it was so special when two nests appeared in Go Home Bay on hydro poles, one up the River through the narrows, the other in the Monument Channel. It became a yearly boating trip for many just to see how these two families of Ospreys were doing. At the same time around Honey Harbour hydro poles were being used by several families of Ospreys. It had probably taken several decades for Ospreys to find that hydro poles were a good survival mechanism -- their existence is dependent on the availability of nest sites.

At this point Ontario Hydro started putting its wires underwater and was taking down the poles. A few of the hydro people at Penetang were kind enough to leave a nesting pole up where they saw a nest. But there began to be terrible problems for the Ospreys just as a few were establishing themselves precariously in this area. To the distress of interested cottagers in the spring of 1986 one pair of Osprey (probably the first new generation of migrants) tried to build a nest on the chimney of a newly constructed cottage. It was torn down and the pair in desperation made another quick nest on a cottage chimney nearby and two chicks were hatched. At the beginning of July the owners arrived and eliminated it.

Obviously there was a housing crisis for Ospreys. That was when a group of cottagers led by Kittie Fells at Go Home Bay decided to do something.

In the late summer of 1986 ten neighbours gathered on the deck of George and Kittie Fells' cottage, each of whom had taken a proprietary interest in one Osprey family at the Monument Channel. They met again in Toronto in the fall. In 1987 twenty-six cottagers elected the executive of the Georgian Bay Osprey Society and formulated the constitution: to protect and enhance the habitat of the Osprey; to study and survey their life cycle, habits, nesting and habitat: to promote awareness appreciation and communication. These aims continue to be our objectives.

In the first few years executive meetings were held in diverse places - lunch at Dooleys restaurant over a beer at Bloor and Yonge or in the lobby of the Plaza Two Hotel during a February blizzard. In the middle of winter the early executive members sometimes scratched their heads about the feasibility of the enterprize. There was little environmental awareness among the general public in 1987. The local marine operators and hydro personnel thought the Society was odd.

During the winters some exciting enterprizes took place. One of our members, John Mitchell, who was experienced in mountain climbing, managed to impress all by skiing up to Go Home Bay dragging his ropes and climbing equipment with him over the ice. With his safety ropes he scaled a 40 foot pole and slung up a nesting platform where a huge Osprey nest had blown down in a storm the previous November.

In the summer of 1987 a group of members and friends dragged hydro poles out of the bush - a terrible task even for four strong people with all the heat and mosquitoes. Later, a task force of twenty-four people was used to help erect one pole with a nest platform on top.

The executive then realized that they needed professional people for such labour. They had shown they were serious and Ontario Hydro became very receptive and started to leave some of their poles up for the GBOS. Support began to come in from local marine operators and other bird lovers who pitched in to help. Then GBOS found economical sources for expensive mounts, guy wires and hardware.

GBOS then received a CWIP grant (Canadian Wildlife Involvement Program which helps the public to initiate projects to help the environment), which paid for the erection of a few more poles in the Honey Harbour area. Some poles were erected by very intuitive people who seemed to know that an Osprey would immediately nest. Other pole watchers have had to wait up to eight years for an Osprey to deign to nest. Sometimes a site is just not suitable and may never be used.

More members joined GBOS from up and down the shore until the Society had over one hundred members. Finally, the GBOS began to be known and taken seriously by outside organizations such as the Coast Guard and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The Society had begun at a time when environmental awareness was minimal, but it was growing quickly. Newspapers, magazines, radio and TV people started approaching us. We also acquired the enrichment of a professional biologist, Peter Ewins, who was working for the Canadian Wildlife Service.

By increasing the number of nesting sites, the GBOS has encouraged many more pairs of Osprey to nest in our area. The number of chicks hatched and the number of fledglings fledged varies from year to year - 2001 being the best on record, 90% of chicks fledged. The lowest number fledged by our accounting was in 1993, when only 43% fledged. What causes this disparity is still unknown. The availability of food, predators (including humans), adjacent noisy human activities in boats, PWC's, aircraft, etc. can affect the successful hatching and raising of chicks.

However, the miracle that they come to us each year, and try to live a summer life here is a compliment - we cannot fix the whole environment but, by trying to help these few fragile Ospreys, we are at least doing something to contribute positively to our environment. Their health is an indicator of the health of our Georgian Bay land and waters.