The year was 1987 and Union Lake was drained in order to replace the spillway. It seemed like the perfect time to do a little construction in the Wildlife Management Area. We would be able to walk the lakebed and erect some osprey structures. In fact, we erected three during low water levels. Only one remains. One was prey to vandalism and the other just wouldn?t tolerate ice events on the lake. But the remaining one does afford an opportunity for a good story about founder Berwyn Kirby (see Kirby nest also). We got permission from Fish and Wildlife to operate an ATV and cart a water pump that we employ to jet a hole for the pole. Berwyn had just purchased an image-stabilizing video camera and was planning to film the erection of the pole. He rode tandem on the ATV and shot footage of the surrounding scenery. Upon arrival at the site, he continued to film the dry lakebed; keep in mind that this habitat had not been seen in over 100 years. He was so engrossed that when he finally put the camera on the crew we were all done. We had a lot of fun at his expense, which I might say was risky business. Berwyn's flattop and physique do not make him a person that you would cross intentionally.

As we were leaving, we came upon a young man who was riding an ATV illegally on the bottom of the dry lakebed. Unfortunately for him, he had come across a deep muddy area and had gone over the hubcaps of his monster machine. Berwyn sternly asked him what the problem was and we thought the poor kid might have a heart attack having just met our version of John Wayne. Berwyn pressed, “You know you can?t ride that thing here.” The young man remained silent. Berwyn asked, “Where would you like to see this thing?” The emphasis on the word “thing” defies description, but you might have thought all the evil in the world was wrapped in that wheeled version of Pandora?s box. In a shaky reply the fellow said, “Well, over here,” pointing to a dry spot next to the over-sized mud pie. With what seemed like little effort Berwyn lifted the machine to the dry spot, sheer force, absolutely impressive muscle. Then Berwyn told him that he had better head home and stay out of the Wildlife Area with his contraption. The incident had completely awed all of us and when the dust from Pandora?s wheeled box was far enough away to speak over I asked, “Well, does anyone want to tease Berwyn about his filming skills now?” Berwyn simply got a special glint in his eye. Off we all went, with a reinforced respect for not only his physical strength, but also for his strength of character.

Juvenile osprey have orange irises; adult have yellow

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