I spoke to the NYSEG lead forester for the Ithaca region (my fiancé) about the Osprey nest. I have a vested interest because this Cargill property abuts our own, meaning I could have Osprey on my yard list. :) So, here is the scoop.
This past fall, the nest made contact with the lines and sparked a fire. The fire department and line crews responded appropriately to put out the fire, but sadly the nest could not be saved. NYSEG is willing to provide a riser and possibly the bucket trucks/necessary equipment to install it in a safer area so that the nest would be up off of the lines. They are aware that Osprey often return to the same locations year after year to nest. They are asking that someone from the birding/CLO community with expertise on providing nesting platforms please work with them by providing input and feedback on such a project. The timeline for this being done before Spring 2012 is on the table. We just need a volunteer to work with the crews to help advise on best practices. If someone is willing to rise to the challenge, that would be great. This is a big company, but they are reasonably agile on things that benefit a community, in my experience. Feel free to reply all if you would like to work with me and NYSEG on this or if you just want to share ideas with us all. Thanks Dave for bringing this to my attention. Regards, Robyn Bailey Lansing From: bounce-39136974-15067...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-39136974-15067...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Dave Nutter Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 10:37 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Portland Point Osprey nest gone Today while birding with Ann Mitchell on Portland Point Rd I noticed that the power pole in the Cargill mine complex which for the past couple years held Tompkins County's only Osprey nest of which I'm aware now only holds the intended trio of transformers and crossbar with insulators and wires. Does anyone know when (and how?) it came down? Be on the look-out for Ospreys with sticks around the southern part of Cayuga Lake come March and April. Maybe this year they'll make a more serious effort atop the platform at Treman Marine Park. We saw neither Red-necked Grebes nor Northern Shrikes from Portland Point Rd, but we did see at least four NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS. We also went to Aurora to try to find the Eared Grebe. Even though the water was still flat we only saw 5 HORNED GREBES from the Wells College boathouse, plus some expected waterfowl: CANADA GEESE, 2 SNOW GEESE (1 adult with 1 immature), MALLARDS, AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, COMMON GOLDENEYE, 5 BUFFLEHEAD, singles of COMMON and RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, distant flying small REDHEAD flocks, plus a few of the usual RING-BILLED, HERRING, and GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS. --Dave Nutter -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --