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NYS Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) Stephen Gonyeau reported that on July 27th he was called to Putnam, east of Lake George, to assist with an osprey nest that had caught fire on a power pole. Gonyeau said he arrived to find two juveniles on the ground and learned that a third had been transported to a wildlife rehabilitator, but was unable to recover from its injuries.
DEC reported that the power company repaired the damaged pole and placed a nesting platform on top. One of the juveniles was returned to the nest and the remaining osprey was transported to a rehabilitator to be treated for smoke inhalation.
On August 4, ECOs Gonyeau and Marcia Goodrich returned to the nest with the juvenile osprey ready for release. They reported that the osprey was not mature enough to take off from ground level and fly, so it was placed on the roof of a nearby barn. When the release was complete, the ECOs left the area to allow the birds’ waiting parents to care for their young.
In 2017, Tracy Ormsbee wrote a story detailing the lives of Indian Lake’s power pole ospreys.
Tom Kalinowski has also written about Adirondack ospreys, and their eventual trip south later this fall. You can find that story here, and all of our wildlife stories here.
Photo of Juvenile Ospreys rescued from burning power pole courtesy DEC.
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Great teamwork!
What was the cause of the fire? Is this common? Nests on power poles are nothing new.
Sometimes the nest sticks make contact with the wires. NYSEG & other electric companies are now putting up raised platforms for ospreys with perch poles on them. It’s cheaper to put up “seeded” platforms (seeded means with some sticks on the platform as an invitation to the birds to build there rather than on bare cross arms) than to have to replace burnt poles & wires & have people with no electric.
Thank you, DEC ECOs and rehabilitators for your dilgence and attendance to this species and the individual ospreys in need of human care.
Looks like David missed throwing a “Thank You” in the direction of NYSEG?
Power companies across the Northeast spend thousands of dollars on Nesting platforms and take proactive measures to guide Raptors into safer nesting zones.
Having said that……Heaven forbid we should lose a raptor or two! I mean after all they are undoubtedly one of primary predators of ruffed and spruce grouse & many other small creatures that we see so few of nowadays in the Adirondacks………
Eventually we’ll come full circle.
FWIW, Ospreys prey on fish almost exclusively. Mammals would be the primary predators of grouse, as they are too heavy for many raptors to lift – one notable exception being Golden Eagles. Bald Eagles won’t bother because they are typically happy stealing fish from Osprey.