A pair of ospreys, a protected species of raptor, has made an ill-advised decision to build their lofty love nest atop a Penn Power utility pole along Milledgeville Road in Deer Creek Township.

Since the pair built their first "mock nest" -- one with no eggs or young -- two years ago, a group of neighbors, officials from nearby Goddard State Park and the power company have been trying to encourage the birds to nest elsewhere.

"This particular pair of birds is very persistent," said Randy Coleman, area manager for Penn Power. Coleman said the power company has about six pairs of ospreys nesting on poles throughout the area.

When the birds started nesting in 2001, the company originally knocked the nest down.

That, according to Goddard park naturalist Jan Keller, was not the thing to do.

"It's illegal," she said. "And not acceptable at all. These birds are protected as migratory birds, and are endangered."

Ospreys are a bird of prey whose original habitat included all of western Pennsylvania. The birds were driven to extinction in the area by loss of habitat, the use of pesticides and hunting, Ms. Keller said.

"It was once considered a sport to hunt the birds," she said. Plus, she added, the birds' beautiful brown and white feathers were highly prized as hat decorations.

The birds were introduced back into the area in 1993, when pairs were brought from the Chesapeake Bay and relocated to Moraine State Park in Lawrence County. Those birds thrived, she said, and now are making annual migrations. The birds in Deer Creek Township may be the offspring of one of those pairs of birds. Ospreys mate for life, she said.

So, Coleman said, Penn Power put up cross beams as a deterrent to keep the birds from building on the pole.

"So they just built around it," he said. "They really like that spot."

Ospreys, Ms. Keller said, like to build their nests on the tops of tall, dead trees. In a pinch, utility poles do quite nicely.

That nesting site can cause problems for the birds.

"They dive down into the water when they are hunting," she said, "and they're wet when they come back up. Then they go onto the power lines, and sometimes, they can electrocute themselves."

It has happened to at least one of the birds in Moraine State Park, she said.

Bob Chimyiak, a resident of the area, wants something to be done for the ospreys, which also are known as fish hawks.

"The power company said they were going to build a platform for them, near the pole, and then move some of the nesting material to the platform to get the birds to start building there," Chimyiak said. "But they said it was 'cost prohibitive' and then the birds didn't come back in 2002. Out of sight, out of mind."

Building a platform on a separate pole nearby could be an option, Coleman said, but probably not the best one.

"Not only is the nest on private property in a farmer's field, but that area doesn't really lend itself to that kind of thing," he said. Utility poles are held in place by the power lines, and any poles in that area would have to be sunk into the ground very deeply, or built with a foundation or some other type of reinforcement to keep it from falling.

When the birds returned this year, Penn Power put insulators around the wires. In addition to offering the birds some protection, they reduce the fire hazard caused by the nesting materials and help prevent damage to fuses the birds' activity atop the pole could cause.

The nest on Milledgeville Road is just one of the latest nesting sites Penn Power keeps track of, Coleman said. When the power company finds a nest, a worker climbs up to it to bring any chicks down. Then, working with the Army Corps of Engineers, he said, the birds are weighed, tagged and checked for disease, then placed back into the nest.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com

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