Blog #454 Ospreys are Dying

Osprey nest bursts into flames after wet branches made contact with live wires, courtesy of ABC4Utah.

Many legacies of COVID persist today, one of which is deadly to the Osprey. Scratching your head? The connection (pun) is simple. Systems were broken and they have not been fixed. That includes New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) who has let their guard down protecting Ospreys. Since the onset of COVID, there’s been one if not more potentially nests catching fire annually, often killing the occupants, owing to NYSEG’s no longer taking precautions to stop this.

This senseless loss of life enrages me to my very core. Nestling Ospreys and their doting parents were burnt alive as their nests atop utility poles explode into flames. The Ospreys’ big sloppy stick nests become serious fire hazards if they get so heavy the flammable nest materials make contact with the electrified wires. Tragedy ensures, birds die, and it could so easily have been prevented. The remedy is a simple $50 riser installed by NYSEG that elevates the nest a safely above the electrical wires.

Before the COVID outbreak in 2019, our local NYSEG was very supportive of the Osprey’s colonization of Cayuga Lake by installing risers where needed and building nesting platforms in local parks. These nesting platforms are often tall enough to require bucket trucks for access, making NYSEG the perfect company to assist the Cayuga Lake Osprey Network’s conservation efforts.


All lost in nest fire on double-buck pole after wet branches touched live wires, courtesy of CapeCodNews.

NYSEG’s utility poles, especially two-armed or double-buck poles, are a favorite nesting substrate for Ospreys. New nests are added each year, but since the start of COVID in 2019, 1–2 Osprey nests are lost annually to electrical fires, causing extensive and expensive power outages for the entire community.

Fixing the riser problem is fairly easy and inexpensive for NYSEG’s crews. They install risers—wooden or metal extension poles with a nest box attached—to raise the Osprey nest a safe distance above the electric wires or hot athletic lights. No more fires, no more power outages, and lost Ospreys. See photographs on the next page.

Ospreys were welcomed in New York’s Finger Lakes as signs of a clean environment when they began colonizing Cayuga Lake about fifty years ago. Now they can be seen fishing over many of the eleven Finger Lakes with Cayuga Lake as its population center. Throughout the breeding season, the Cayuga Lake Osprey Network keeps an inventory of all nests in the Cayuga Lake basin and flags those that present a fire hazard. The Network regularly sends the list of hazardous nests to the NYSEG offices in charge of the Cayuga Lake area in hopes that risers will be installed to bring these nests to safety. However, the NYSEG system is broken, and no risers have been installed.



(L) Wooden riser holds nest above live wires, (R) metal riser holds nest and the perching

Ospreys above the hot lights, courtesy of Cindy Sedlacek.


Prior to COVID, NYSEG’s conservation efforts were instrumental in remedying potentially hazardous nests by installing nest box risers. It is essential that NYSEG resumes its riser program. Not only do they save Ospreys lives, they also prevent damaging and expensive power outages—a win-win savings for the community.

Please thank NYSEG for their former work with Osprey and encourage your Ithaca or Auburn NYSEG offices to reinstate installing risers for potentially hazardous nests to prevent needless Osprey deaths and expensive power outages. Thank you!



Eyes to the sky!

Candace

Candace E. Cornell

Friends of Salt Point, Lansing, NY

Cayuga Lake Osprey Network

cec222@gmail.com

 

EYES ON OSPREYS

WATCH!

Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam 2022-23

READ!

 On Osprey Time: Ospreys of the Finger Lakes

VISIT!

Cayuga Lake Osprey Trail Nests Driving Tour

Complete Cayuga Lake Osprey Trail

HELP PROTECT OSPREYS:

•Stay 300 feet away from nests during the breeding season.

If the Osprey vocalizes, you are too close! BACK OFF IMMEDIATELY.

•Carry binoculars to view wildlife from afar.

•Recycle used fishing lines, twine, and nets, which can kill Osprey.

•Join the Cayuga Osprey Network: cec222@gmail.com.

•Help keep local waters clean, healthy, and safe. Pick up trash and do not litter. Trash stays in the ecosystem a long time before it disintegrates. Plastic just breaks down into smaller pieces.

Aluminum Can-------------------80 to 100 years

Plastic 6-pack Holder----------100 years

Orange or Banana Peel-------Up to 2 years

Plastic Film Container---------20 to 30 years

Plastic Bags----------------------10 to 20 years

Glass Bottles---------------------1,000,000 years

Plastic Coated Paper----------5 years

Nylon Fabric---------------------30 to 40 years

Leather----------------------------1 to 5 years

Wool Socks----------------------1 to 5 years

Tin Cans--------------------------50 years

    Source: NYSDEC


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