Power outage planned to protect osprey nest and transmission line

A large osprey nest perched on top of a live transmission tower in Lunenburg County has prompted a scheduled power outage in the area on July 9 between 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.

The nest is on a main feeder line, sending electricity to about 5,600 Nova Scotia Power customers in Lunenburg, Mahone Bay and Riverport.

The nest has already caused some minor outages.

Tiffany Chase, a spokespersonfor Nova Scotia Power, said insulators will be installedduring the two-hour outage.

"This is an interim safety measure to protect service reliability and the nest itself," said Chase.

Nesting on power lines is not uncommon for osprey.

Typically, Nova Scotia Power works with the Department of Natural Resources to relocate the nest to protect the birds and prevent power interruptions.But Chase said they're unable to do that right now while the birds are nesting.

Nest to be relocated

"The plan is to do that [relocate the nest] at a later date, once it's safe to do so and the osprey are no longer in that nest," said Chase.

That date has yet to be determined.

Nova Scotia's Department of Natural Resources will continue to keep an eye on the birds and decide when it's safe to move the nest.

Andrew Hebda, a zoologist with the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, said it can take up to two months after the eggs are hatched before the Osprey chicks are ready to leave the nest.

Plastic concerns

The real concern for the power company, Hebda said, is not the nest itself which is made mostly of natural material but the plastic that sometimes gets picked up by the birds to line the nest.

"Plastic will retain water and makes it ready to be a conductor. If you have a conductor, of course, then you'll get a bigger discharge of electricity from the wire to the ground," said Hebda.

The new insulators would help prevent that from happening.

History of relocating nests

Chase said another short power outage will be scheduled once it's safe to move the nest.

Nova Scotia Power's osprey relocation program has been ongoing for decades.

In 2001, a nest was relocated after it caught fire.

A new platform was built and a pair of osprey return to the nest each year and can be watched on a webcam.

• Nova Scotia's live OspreyCam shows a bird's life for 10th year