Ospreys are expected to return to Cape Cod in March. But this year, they'll have safer housing options.
The birds are attracted to nesting on utility poles and have sparked fires and caused power outages. Boy Scout Tucker Morton of Troop 42 in East Falmouth on Saturday led fellow Scouts to build alternative platforms to deter ospreys from nesting on poles.
His Eagle Scout service project is assisting the Osprey Project, founded by Kevin Friel and Barbara Schneider as a safety model for other towns to follow. Morton says he wants to help inspire action beyond Falmouth and throughout the Cape to confront the hazard to ospreys ahead of their return.
"If this works as well as we hope, or exceeds our hopes, hopefully every town on Cape Cod will have some sort of plan in place to have ospreys off the power-line poles. It just benefits everybody," Morton tells CAI. "The end-goal is to have ospreys nesting in trees. We're not only doing construction; we're also going to be monitoring the nests to see when the ospreys come back and to see how well it's doing overall."
Next week Morton, who plays football at Falmouth High School, will oversee the cleaning of debris from a fallen osprey platform by Dam Pond ahead of the next installation.
Last year, Eversource removed nests from its poles in Falmouth only to have the ospreys rebuild there. The company is now assisting the Osprey Project by installing deterrents on utility poles.
Donations to cover the construction cost of alternative nesting sites can be made to the nonprofit Falmouth Together We Can. Volunteers can email waquoitphoto@aol.com.
