Snow Library in Orleans continues its Lifetime Learning series with “Living With Our Wild Neighbors,” taught by Stephanie Ellis, director of Wild Care. This virtual course consists of three classes, the first on Friday, November 6th, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Register with a $10 suggested donation at friendsofsnowlibrary.org.
Wild Care
NATURAL SELECTION
Outer Cape Outage Revives Osprey Debate
Audubon and Eversource disagree on how to keep nests off power lines
Over 100 years ago, in an agrarian Massachusetts, farmers began training ospreys to nest — not in trees, but on man-made platforms.
The intent was to use the birds of prey on farms to ward off red-tailed hawks, which fed on chickens.
The training was successful, and Cape Cod is dealing with the consequences to this day.
On Thursday, Aug. 13, about 10,000 people from Wellfleet to Provincetown lost power in their homes because of an osprey nest on a power line on Gross Hill Road in Wellfleet. Eversource took down the nest in the process of restoring power.
Osprey nests interfering with power lines are a common occurrence on the Cape, according to Mark Faherty, science coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
“Either the birds themselves or sticks from the nest can interfere with the wires and cause a fire, or cause outages,” he said.
The recent outage has rekindled strife between wildlife organizations such as Mass Audubon and the state’s largest energy company, Eversource, over how to handle osprey nests on power lines.
Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, it is illegal for utility companies to remove nests with eggs in them, or with recently hatched chicks that cannot fly. In the case of the Gross Hill Road nest, the chicks had fledged, meaning they had already learned to fly.
That doesn’t mean the birds aren’t still using the nest, however.
“There is this vague period after [ospreys] fledge when they can fly but they haven’t learned how to fish,” said Emily Achtenberg, who has been a volunteer osprey monitor at the Wellfleet sanctuary for 10 years.
“They use the nest, and the parents bring back the fish,” she said. “That’s where they all eat.”
Achtenberg has observed the Gross Hill Road nest for Mass Audubon since before Eversource took it down. She said the family is still flying around the area where the nest was.
Faherty doesn’t see a problem with Eversource taking the nest down at Gross Hill Road, calling it a “no-brainer,” considering that it cut power for 10,000 people.
His issue is with Eversource’s commitment to providing the birds with a safe alternative to nesting on power lines.
Members of Mass Audubon, Wild Care, and Cape Wildlife have met several times with Eversource to discuss a more neutral way to deal with the osprey population, according to Faherty. The wildlife community, he said, wants Eversource to pay for the construction of nest platforms, like the one at Wellfleet Harbor.
Building the platforms is easier said than done, according to Eversource spokesperson Reid Lamberty.
“Every time we try to build an osprey platform, we not only need the permission of the town, but sometimes the property owner, if it is on private property,” he said. “The home owners have told us no.”
Instead, Eversource’s primary strategy for dealing with nests is to install “deterrents” on poles to keep the birds from building. The most common deterrent is a corrugated half-pipe designed to make the nest slip off when the birds try to build.
Every fall, when the ospreys migrate from the northeast, Eversource removes the empty nests and installs the deterrents in their place.
The problem is that deterrents don’t work, according to Faherty.
When ospreys migrate back to the Cape in the spring, they look for their old nest to reuse, he said. Ospreys are often so stubborn about using the same nest that they will rebuild a new one in the same place right on top of the slippery pipe.
“[Eversource] rips the nest down, puts up some deterrents, and hopes the birds will nest in the trees,” Faherty said. “They won’t — they nest on the next pole down. We don’t feel that they have a good system to deal with nests on local power lines.”
Nests built on the deterrents are also more likely to shed loose sticks onto the lines and cause fires or outages, meaning that the strategy creates more problems than it solves, he added.
Lamberty acknowledged the issue, saying, “When we install a deterrent, sometimes they will go back there still and try to build.” But he added that there is no clear alternative.
“We will work to help out as much as we can,” he said. “We do try, because the ospreys are very important.”
Finding a safe alternative for the birds is not something the company can do for every case of a nest on a power line, Lamberty said.
Faherty believes Eversource needs to take more responsibility for the nests.
“They are not Audubon’s birds, they are not God’s birds — they are your birds,” he said.
our picks for the week of June 25 through July 1
Indie’s Choice
Outer Cape Calendar
Super Bollen
East End Books Ptown is hosting a virtual book event with Christopher Bollen, writer of A Beautiful Crime, a twisty, Ripley-esque grifter novel, on Friday, June 26, at 5 p.m. Registration is required: visit eastendbooksptown.com for the Zoom link. Signed books are available for purchase.
Special Ops
Provincetown’s On Center Gallery invites you to Zoom into a virtual reception on Friday, June 26, at 6 p.m. for the exhibit “Twists & Turns: New Works by Matt Neuman.” Contact the gallery to be emailed a link: 508-413-9483.
All Stars
Stream RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, annotated by Mackenzie and Austin, every Friday night at 8 p.m. on the Pilgrim House Facebook page. It’s free, but tips go to a Queer Black Lives Matter charity picked each week. Tito’s Vodka is also matching donations up to $5,000 for the Provincetown LGBTQ Welcome and Resource Center.
To Your Taste
While we go through the many phases of Covid, “Taste of the Town” returns, only this time it’s “to go.” Wellfleet Preservation Hall will benefit from any purchase on Saturday, June 27, at over 20 restaurants and food outlets, including Truro Vineyards, Chequessett Chocolate, and Wellfleet Farmers Market. Visit wellfleetpreservationhall.org for details.
Fur Babies
Wild Care Cape Cod in Eastham is holding a “Virtual Wild Baby Shower” on Saturday, June 27. Here’s how it works: drop off essential supplies such as bleach, paper towels, nuts, and berries between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and enter a raffle for a gift basket. During the day, there’ll be live-stream segments with some of the shelter’s animals on the Wild Care Facebook page.
Go Fish
Live music — what a concept! Steve Morgan and the Kingfish are doing an outdoor concert at Stewart’s Seafood Restaurant & Tavern at 4380 Route 6 in Eastham on Saturday, June 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be plenty of social distancing and ventilation. For details, visit the Facebook page for Steve Morgan and the Kingfish.
Miss Salonga
The Art House in Provincetown lives online in the virtual Seth Concert Series, featuring Seth Rudetsky chatting with Broadway musical stars when he’s not accompanying them on piano. Next up: Miss Saigon Tony-winner Lea Salonga, on Sunday, June 28, at 9 a.m., with an encore at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 at thesethconcertseries.com.
Indira at the Tent
Payomet Performing Arts Center’s Live Early Stages presents Wellfleet novelist Indira Ganesan in conversation with Janet Lesniak, executive director of Wellfleet Preservation Hall, on Sunday, June 28, at 11:30 a.m. via Zoom. Pre-register for free at payomet.org.
Lightbulb Moment
Camp Lightbulb is doing an online fundraising event on Sunday, June 28, at 8 p.m. There will be appearances by Kit Williamson, creator of EastEnders; Miss Richfield 1981; and author Lev Rosen. For details and tickets ($30-$1,000 at eventbrite.com), go to Camp Lightbulb’s Facebook page.
Sinking Feeling
The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown is doing a virtual lecture with Joan Wickersham and Adam Davies, who will speak about their collaborative photographic-literary “Vasa Project” on Tuesday, June 30, at 6 p.m. It involves a warship called the Vasa that sank in 1628 but is nearly perfectly preserved in Stockholm, Sweden. Register at fawc.org.
DOING GOOD
Nesting
Wild Care, the wildlife rescue center in Eastham, is open, but due to the Covid-19 crisis, staff are working remotely and the organization’s capacity is limited, according to a press release on April 15. As a result, Wild Care has issued guidelines for the public in hopes of keeping people from displacing wildlife unnecessarily. “It is baby season for wildlife,” said Stephanie Ellis, Wild Care’s executive director. At this time of year, people often come upon rabbits’ nests while doing yard work and worry that the newborn rabbits may be orphaned. But according to the announcement, “a mother cottontail rabbit feeds her young at dusk and dawn. She does not stay at the nest.” Wild Care wants readers to know that “a four- to five-inch-long baby rabbit is fully independent and does not need to be rescued.” In most cases, the best thing to do if you accidentally uncover a nest is to simply cover it back up. (Photo Wild Care/Kerry Reid)
Doing Good
Tree Refuge
What was a Christmas tree has become a nice spot for Nickerson, one of the educational Eastern screech owls at Wild Care in Eastham. The tree was one of 14 large Christmas trees donated to the organization on Jan. 3 by the Visiting Nurse Association’s Cape Cod Hospice “Tree of Memories” program. Branches provide perches for birds recovering from injuries.