Cape Coral’s homeless ospreys get a temporary homemade nest

An osprey couple in Cape Coral is without a nest after it was removed from an LCEC power pole after the nest caused the pole to catch fire.

Now, one man is building a temporary platform using the sticks the birds picked.

Lucy and Desi are homeless ospreys but won’t be homeless for long. The aptly named wildlife whisperer, Ned Bruha, is taking “nesting” into his own hands.

“These guys have been through enough trauma. And if we can’t find a more suitable location, this is going to do for now,” Bruha said.

Bruha spent Thursday afternoon building the ospreys a temporary nest after a fire destroyed theirs. “They are going through postpartum depression after this electric pole blew up right there with them on it. Luckily, they weren’t harmed. They lost their eggs.”

Bruha is crafting the nest with branches the birds used to make their previous nest.
How did he get these? Angela Brooks and Wayne Manning. They collected the branches and stored them safely after the fire.

“Every morning, we see him dive down into the lot and pick up a stick and take her stick,” said Manning.

“Ned told me that the sticks are special because she already approved them. So all that you know, it does. It affects you,” said Brooks.

Brooks and Manning have been watching Lucy and Desi for more than three years. The birds aren’t family, but they matter to the couple.

“They’re wild. You can’t touch them. You can just watch them, and they seem to want to, you know, talk to us,” Brooks said.

Now, Bruha seems to have adopted them too. He built the nest in Brooks and Manning’s backyard, above a canal they live on. They look forward to the birds joining them while they relax on their patio.