Osprey Nest Forces Apple Valley High School to Play Football Under the Sun

Apple Valley, nicknamed the Eagles, has an Osprey nest on top of a light tower at its football stadium

Ospreys have built a nest on top of a light tower at Apple Valley High School's multi-purpose stadium in Minnesota. The location of the nest has forced the school district to adjust its fall sports schedule until further notice. / Kris Craig/The Providence Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Apple Valley High School in Minnesota is being forced to adjust its fall sports schedule due to birds raising their chicks in an obscure location.

The Associated Press and Fox News reported that ospreys, a federally and state-protected species, have a nest on top of a light tower at Apple Valley’s football stadium.

The location of the nest has led to Apple Valley, nicknamed the Eagles, rescheduling all of its home football and soccer games from night to daytime. The move, reports noted, helps to keep the ospreys safe while avoiding hot floodlights and potentially starting a fire.

"When you tell someone this story of ‘Wow, we have to reschedule because there’s an osprey nest in our stadium,’ they’re like, ‘You can’t make this type of stuff up, right?’" Apple Valley athletic director Cory Hanson said via AP.

Heidi Cyr, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) nongame wildlife permit coordinator, told AP that the school can remove the nest when osprey chicks learn how to fly.

AP reported that when DNR officials confirmed it was an osprey nest at the stadium, the department’s representatives told school officials that federal law protected the birds’ temporary home.

Apple Valley HS has been sending a drone up to the light fixtures a couple of times a week to monitor the ospreys. Once the chicks are able to fly away, the school can remove the nest and return to its regularly-scheduled night games.

Hanson, who became aware of the nest in June, mentioned that he’s seen as many as four osprey chicks in the drone photos.

"Luckily for Apple Valley, they should be able to remove the nest within probably a week because the birds have already taken some of their first flights," Cyr said via AP.

Hanson noted that once the chicks fly away for good, Cyr’s department and school officials will relocate the nest from the light tower and onto another surface on the school’s property.

Apple Valley officials hope the birds will return next year. The school district, however, will erect deterrents on the lights to refrain from the ospreys building a nest there again.

“So if anyone sees that happening, don’t worry,” Cyr said via AP. “The birds are safe. They’ve successfully left the nest and they’re on their way to becoming adults themselves.”

More information on AP’s report about the ospreys can be found here.

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