When Bald Eagles took over an Osprey nest on the Outer Cape two years ago it meant that, for the first time since the 1800s out here, the eagle had landed. Sadly, thanks to that wind storm a few weekends ago, their nest also landed, with a thud, on the hillside below. The old telephone pole had rotted enough at the bottom that it snapped, sending the old platform and nest crashing to the ground, just as the pair had been seen mating in preparation for egg laying. Rotten timing for a rotten pole and a windstorm.
Exactly two years ago, the saga of these eagles, and the Ospreys they displaced, began. First, many noticed a pair of Bald Eagles repeatedly sitting on the highly visible Osprey nest at Cedar Pond, by the Orleans rotary. Later in March the male Osprey returned, and, after days of divebombing, drove off the eagle squatters. What many didn’t know is that, quietly, a different pair of eagles had successfully occupied a different nearby Osprey nest, eventually repelling the attacks of those returning Ospreys. They went on to fledge two chicks, making this the first successful eagle nest on the Outer Cape since the 19th century.
But what of the luckless, deposed Osprey pair? As far as I can tell, they went on to nest on an electric pole in a nearby neighborhood. The following spring, Eversource took down their nest right when the birds had returned to spruce it up, resulting in the predictable electrocution of male Osprey as he attempted to rebuild. He miraculously survived, was rehabilitated at Wild Care, and eventually released. He returned to his old neighborhood to find, like some unlucky ex-con, that his old lady had taken up with another man – they had a new nest down the street. Man, these have been a tough couple of years for that male Osprey.
Fast forward to last month. When the now eagle nest pole fell back on February 17th, the community of photographers that had imprinted on this pair of eagles, following their every move for two years, was desolate. One of them, a local police sergeant, posted on three different Facebook groups related to Cape birding and photography asking for help putting the pole back up. But staff from the Orleans Conservation Trust had heard the news and were already on the case, and eventually a team that also included Mass Audubon and Orleans Natural Resources department staff was making a plan.
What was my role in this? Well, I valiantly and heroically responded to some initial emails, including cc’ing some people who could actually help - sending and reading emails is something like 99.9% of what I do anymore. Chris Walz from Mass Audubon built the pole and quarterbacked the multi-organizational crew, including a gaggle of conservation trust volunteers, and the Orleans Harbormaster provided the boat. I bravely watched the pole raising from the opposite shoreline while participating in a virtual meeting on my phone - I don’t know what they would have done without me.
In any case, thanks to all these folks, the nest pole is back up, albeit a bit lower than before. I have since heard that the eagles were seen carrying sticks in a different direction, so I suspect they will not use the replacement pole this year. It’s worth noting that eagles live 25 or more years, so even if they don’t nest at all this year, it’s not a big deal – they have plenty of breeding opportunities left. And even if the new pole only gets used by Ospreys from here on out, that’s one less pair at risk of electrocution on the electric lines, so kudos to the Orleans Conservation Trust and other partners on getting this done, thanks to me of course. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go courageously return some emails. I might even fearlessly CC someone…
