Concern for osprey powers relocations

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

It's not just retired people who are flocking to Larimer County to live. In recent years, the county has also seen an increase in the number of osprey nesting and spending the summer in the area.

Many folks enjoy watching these big raptors, also called fish hawks or fish eagles, as they build their nests and raise their young. Power companies also watch the birds with interest.

Like everyone else, the osprey have to find housing once they arrive. While they don't have the mortgage problems that other residents face, they do have to deal with utility companies.

Osprey like to build their nests in high places, and power poles often seem like an attractive option. However, there are two problems with this choice of lodging: the birds can damage the power lines, causing outages; and the osprey and their young can get electrocuted.

To solve the dilemma, power companies often erect new poles - not connected to electrical lines--and move the osprey nests to them.

This spring, Poudre Valley REA relocated two osprey nests in the northern part of the county. The new nests can be seen at the intersection of County Road 54G and the U.S. Highway 287 bypass, near Chappelle Small Animal Hospital; and on County Road 58 south of Wellington, about one-quarter mile west of Interstate 25. In both cases, the osprey moved quickly to the new nest sites.

Other REA osprey relocations can be seen at the intersection of North Shields Street and West Willox Lane and east of I-25 on County Road 50. To see the latter nest, take the Mountain Vista exit, drive one mile south on the frontage road, then one and one-half miles east.

The REA works closely with the Colorado Division of Wildlife to protect the osprey. Tim Stanton, operations manager for the REA, said the company must comply with terms of the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which protects 800 species of migratory birds. The company never moves an osprey nest without DOW approval.

To relocate the birds, REA employees first erect a new pole and platform near the power pole nest. They slide the nest off the old site onto a piece of plywood, then move it onto the new platform.

Nancy Howard, a district wildlife manager for the DOW, said the REA has been "absolutely spectacular to work with," since the company donates both the pole and the labor for each project. The REA generally recycles older poles for the osprey lodging.

Ironically, Howard said, concerned citizens sometimes call the DOW during the nest-moving process, asking why workers are harassing the osprey.

Howard said the osprey are very adaptable and move readily from one nesting site to another. Generally they'll stay close by while the nest is moved, then settle quickly into their new digs. Howard has been involved in six moves over the past five years, and in each case the osprey were successfully relocated. To keep osprey off the vacated power pole, the REA installs metal triangles that prevent nesting.

In the 1960s, Howard noted, osprey disappeared from most of Colorado due to the use of DDT and other harmful pesticides. DDT was banned in the United States in the 1970s, but its continued use in Mexico and Central America still poses problems for osprey and other bird species.

In the early 1990s the DOW initiated Operation Osprey, a concerted effort to encourage osprey to nest in Colorado, including construction of nesting platforms. Nesting pairs can now be seen at Terry Lake, Fossil Creek Reservoir and Cottonwood Hollow, as well as other locations. Howard and her DOW colleagues have noticed an increase in the number of osprey this year.

Osprey, which dine almost exclusively on fish, winter on the Gulf Coast and on the Pacific Coast of Central America. They arrive in Colorado in April to build nests and lay their eggs. An osprey pair usually raises two young. When they reach adulthood, the birds measure about 24 inches long and have a wingspan of 6 feet.

July is a good time to observe young osprey on the nests.