The osprey family on Leeman Highway in Bath, which has successfully nested on a platform erected by Central Maine Power in 2024 after the utility removed a long-standing nest, worrying local osprey watchers. (Courtesy of Joanne Adams)

In spring 2024, Bath birders were disturbed to learn that Central Maine Power removed a long-established osprey nest from atop a utility pole off Leeman Highway (Route 1), installing bright yellow spikes to prevent future nesting.

Though the utility company erected a nesting platform as a safer alternative for the raptors to build a home, years passed without any little heads poking out of nests high above the highway. That was, until this April, when birder and osprey advocate Joanne Adams spotted a breeding pair getting to work on their new home. Then she didn’t see them for several weeks, and feared they’d left — until she noticed four birds in the nest in June.

“Suddenly, they had two chicks,” said Adams, of Bath.

Greg Thompson, CMP community relations manager, said the family’s success was exciting. Following the community outcry over the Leeman nest, Thompson said the company ramped up efforts to protect the birds and has worked with neighbors and state and local authorities to build more than 30 nesting platforms statewide.

“Since 2024, we’ve been very proactive that as we do a project, or as we’re working in an area, or as we find a nest that could be impactful to the system, we proactively look for a way to get a platform up and move that nest to the platform,” Thompson said. “Therefore, we’re removing the liability to the system at the same time as placing a spot where the birds can thrive.”

The ospreys above Leeman Highway in Bath are getting ready to leave the nest as the fledglings grow. (Courtesy of Joanne Adams)

The interplay between ospreys and power equipment is a delicate dance each nesting season, starting around March and stretching through the summer. Often, transmission towers are appealing real estate for birds looking for tall, sturdy structures near fishing holes.

Living near live wires puts ospreys at risk of electrocution, and the twigs, bark and grasses that the birds use to build their nests can spark fires. In addition to being dangerous to the birds, power outages caused by nests on utility structure impact thousands of Maine power customers each year, according to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Two years ago, CMP said it removed the original nest on the Leeman Highway utility pole to protect the birds and prevent outages, since lines in the area connected more than 5,000 customers to power.

Concerned about the impact on mating ospreys — and worried that a nesting platform would come too late in the season for a couple to build — residents started to organize. Adams founded the Facebook group “Leeman Highway Osprey Advocates of Bath Maine and Beyond,” which quickly collected over 1,000 followers.

“The only way we’re gonna get things done is to include others,” Adams remembered thinking at the time.

After a temporary platform was unsuccessful, CMP installed a permanent perch in fall 2024, which was built at Somerset Career and Technical Center using guidance from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Thompson said the company worked closely with the Maine Department of Transportation, which owns the land, and the city. Though, no birds successfully built a nest on the platform until this year.

Thompson said he’s grateful that community members like Adams have their eyes on the sky and have helped CMP find safe solutions for the birds. He encouraged anyone who spots a potentially dangerous nest near power lines to call CMP or email [email protected].

Now, the Leeman Highway juveniles are almost as big as their parents, only distinguishable by their orange eyes (which turn yellow as they grow) and white-tipped plumage that’s lighter than their parents’.

Adams has watched the osprey families of Bath for more than 50 years, inspired by her grandmother, who meticulously monitored the nests near her home on Sawyer Island in Boothbay while Adams was growing up. She also keeps a close eye on a nest on Washington Street atop a former funeral home and one at the old Stinson Cannery site.

The two osprey fledgelings above Leeman Highway will leave the nest soon, and one of them has already started to fly, Adams said. Every time they fly south for the winter, it’s a bittersweet occasion.

“When they leave, I get empty nest syndrome,” Adams said.