Blog #430 Is It Legal to Tear Down an Osprey Nest?
Female Osprey carrying stick to nest, courtesy of University of Montana. Nearly every spring outraged birders tell me about Osprey nests they have seen torn down by NYSEG (New York State Electric and Gas). How can this be legal? Don’t the Migratory Bird Act of 1908 (MBA) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA) protect migratory birds, including their nests, eggs, and chicks? The 1908 law and its hundred years of treaties was the foundation of the America’s conservation legacy, that is until Trump came to town. One of his first moves was gutting the MBTA: industry benefited and the environment lost. Much of the MBTA has been reinstated, although there are still serious loopholes favoring industry by permitting "incidental takes" or animals unintentionally captured, live or dead, during industrial operations. An Osprey nest is considered active if it contains viable eggs and/or chicks. A nest becomes active when the first egg is laid and remains active until fle...