Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I watched with pleasure in early April as the osprey pair which favors the Coleman Bridge as a nesting site built a nest. But during the severe high winds around April 8 or 10, the nest was dislodged and blew down. I saw the sticks littering the bridge. I telephoned the Virginia Living Museum and asked whether the birds would rebuild. I was told that they most likely would not rebuild and so they would not breed this year.

You can imagine my delight when I noticed that, against all the odds, the ospreys were building a new nest. I saw the progress on April 27, and on May 1 the nest appeared to be completed. I hoped that the female would lay eggs within the next few days.

Early in the afternoon of May 2, I saw the cherry picker near the nesting site and assumed that it was there to perform normal maintenance. After all, the ospreys have nested undisturbed there for years. I was not prepared as I crossed the bridge on Wednesday, May 4, to see an empty space wh...