CL&P Makes a New Home For Ospreys In Niantic

Connecticut Light and Power linesmen from East Lyme, Old Lyme, and Lyme spent four hours replacing an osprey platform in Niantic on Friday. But this project wasn't just for the birds.

Ospreys like to make nests on top of tall utility poles, which frequently leads to power outage problems. Over the years, CL&P has learned that the best way to head off the problem is to give the ospreys their very own place to nest. 

This particular platform was installed after local residents complained when CL&P cleared a nest from atop a utility poll off Columbus Avenue a few years ago.

"Neighbors starting making calls saying you can't do that," said Mary Jean Shea, who has a bird's eye view of the nest from her home on Champlain Hill Court in Niantic. "They came back and built the platform. By 4 p.m. the platform was up and the mother and father were sitting up there so proud!"

In the past two years, the existing platform has been battered by tropical storms Irene and Sandy and by blizzards. This had left the nesting area tilted at a rather precarious angle. 

"Last year we tried to straighten it out but there were eggs on the nest and they were dive-bombing us!" said Rick Johnson, supervisor of distribution lines, of Old Lyme. "They love this spot!"

An email from a local resident to CL&P prompted the local crew to give it another shot before the birds returned to nest this year. After working through the recent storms, Tom Penfield, one of the CL&P supervisors who is also from Old Lyme said this task is "a little more pleasant. People aren't yelling at us when we do this!"

The CL&P crews do this more often than you might think. Last year they created a new platform for ospeys at Ocean Beach Park in New London. They also made one in Stonington on the Mystic River after ospreys caused power outages with a nest on top of a utility pole.

For CL&P, it's all in a day's work.