By Richard Bell
Employees of Nova Scotia Power, the Department of Natural Resources, and Hope for Wildlife combined forces in a unique effort that saved a family of ospreys on Jeddore Harbour at the end of June.
The problem began with an osprey nest on a NS Power pole overlooking Jeddore Harbour. Something set off a small fire that burned up half the nest. When NS Power workers got up to the nest, they found three chicks, two of which were still alive. The two remaining chicks were taken to Hope for Wildlife.
Meanwhile, DNR staff from the Jeddore office began working with Nova Scotia Power on an innovative plan to get the osprey family back together. Kris Lambert, a DNR wildlife and forest technician based out of the Jeddore office, led the effort. Lambert described the rescue effort in an interview with the Cooperator.
"The adults were hanging around, still trying to nest on the burnt platform," Lambert said. "We checked with Hope for Wildlife, and the chicks were doing well. The best chance the chicks had for living a normal life was to get them back together with their parents. We thought about building a nest, even though we found that no one had ever tried this approach before."
"We worked with Nova Scotia Power to put in a new nesting pole next to the one that burnt. They also put some hardware on the burnt pole to discourage the nest."
"I looked at photos of osprey nests and got the fire crew to bring a truckload of dead branches and other material. Nova Scotia Power put together a platform, and over the next few days, we built a nest. It had to be big enough to contain the chicks when we put them up there, so that the wind wouldn't blow them out.
"We got the new nest installed on the pole, Hope for Wildlife came out with the two chicks, and a Nova Scotia Power lineman took the chicks up to the new nest. We didn't know what was going to happen."
"Around 5 pm, the parents showed up. At first, they ignored the new nest and kept trying to build on the old burnt pole. They took turns circling over the new nest, and then went back to the burnt pole. Around 6:30, the female perched on the rim of the new nest. A half-hour went by, and the male came by and hung out on a nearby birch tree. Then they both left for an hour-and-a-half.
"Around 9 pm, the female showed up with what looked like a fish. She landed, took off, came back 10 minutes later, and then flew off. We didn't see her come back.
"But she did come back at 6 am, shuffling some of the sticks around and moving the chicks. And at 6:30 am, the male arrived with a fish, which the female pulled apart and fed to the chicks.
"This was a great project. Everyone worked well together. We had the resources to do it, we put it together, and it couldn't have worked out any better."
