{"id":252965,"date":"2026-04-05T14:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/252965\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:43:10","slug":"protected-ospreys-likely-in-for-a-longer-stay-at-la-jolla-tennis-club-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/252965\/","title":{"rendered":"Protected ospreys likely in for a longer stay at La Jolla Tennis Club \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feathered guests have settled onto light posts at the La Jolla Tennis Club<\/a>, and while their droppings are causing some disturbance, they\u2019re likely in for a longer stay.<\/p>\n

A few ospreys built nests at the public club at 7632 Draper Ave. last month. Their presence has led to increased droppings and fish remnants landing on the courts. In response, club manager Jon Ross has ramped up cleanings on the three courts impacted by the birds. Instead of washing the courts once a month, cleanings are now conducted weekly or biweekly, and more cleaning solution is available for spot treating.<\/p>\n

Ross said two ospreys are there most of the time, though he has seen a third.<\/p>\n

As a federally protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act<\/a>, ospreys cannot be captured, transported, sold, traded or killed without authorization of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"OspreysOspreys are a federally protected bird species. (Azi Sharif)<\/p>\n

Inactive nests sometimes can be removed without permission, in recommended consultation with local wildlife authorities. But active nests like those the Tennis Club\u2019s newest residents made cannot be removed or relocated.<\/p>\n

Ross has kept club patrons updated through a series of emails. And last week, he invited a wildlife expert to evaluate the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe balance of it is that we obviously are respecting the birds,\u201d Ross said. \u201cTechnically, we are in their territory. I mean, it\u2019s prime real estate for an osprey. Our light posts are probably 30 feet high, so they are perched way above any other structure in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also are a block from the ocean, so they can go out, hunt, catch a fish and bring it back. It\u2019s like a beachfront apartment for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross said some people have complained that \u201cit\u2019s unpleasant [or] gross because there are fish guts and fish carcasses that we have to pick up. \u2026 [But] most people have said \u2018We get it \u2014 they\u2019re going to make a mess, but they\u2019re really cool birds and they\u2019re federally protected.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs manager, I\u2019m still trying to do my part to give people as much information as possible and let them know we\u2019re going to try to keep the courts as clean as possible,\u201d Ross added. \u201cBut Mother Nature does its thing and we can only do so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the players impacted by the ospreys\u2019 presence is Tina Mertel, who said she first noticed them in early March.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played this morning [April 1] with them there and they aren\u2019t a physical nuisance to me, but they\u2019re a curious sighting,\u201d Mertel said. \u201cUsually you don\u2019t see that when you\u2019re serving a ball or waiting to return a ball \u2014 that this pretty impressive bird is at the other end of the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you first see it, it looks pretty majestic,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then you start getting used to it and you expect to see them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the unusual circumstances, she praised the Tennis Club for how it is handling the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of being a member of the La Jolla Tennis Club, where the leadership is finding a win-win solution \u2014 not rushing to figure it out but taking a very thoughtful approach,\u201d Mertel said.<\/p>\n

Azi Sharif, founder and executive director of Wildlife Jewels<\/a>, a nonprofit with an office in Solana Beach, visited the Tennis Club on April 2 to evaluate the nests. She spent an hour observing two of the birds and taking photos. Soon, she\u2019ll share a presentation with club users offering her insights.<\/p>\n

\"OspreysOspreys that have built nests on light posts at the La Jolla Tennis Club likely will stay for a few more months, according to Azi Sharif of Wildlife Jewels. (Azi Sharif)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is early-stage nest building,\u201d Sharif told the La Jolla Light. \u201cThey\u2019ve selected the site, they\u2019ve already built the nest and it\u2019s their space. Perhaps in the next week or two is when they\u2019re going to start having eggs and the incubation process starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharif estimated the ospreys will depart in three to four months, once their chicks are able to fly.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, she said,\u00a0\u201cthey are federally protected and it\u2019s essential for us to coexist with them. This is temporary \u2014 it\u2019s just about three to four months with maintenance and cleaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are lucky to have them here,\u201d Sharif added. \u201cThey\u2019re part of what makes La Jolla so extraordinary and special.\u201d \u2666<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feathered guests have settled onto light posts at the La Jolla Tennis Club, and while their droppings are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,930,5184,6804,6953,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-252965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-la-jolla","10":"tag-la-jolla-light","11":"tag-la-jolla-light-news","12":"tag-la-jolla-shores","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-county","15":"tag-san-diego-headlines","16":"tag-san-diego-news","17":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}