FortisBC donated a cheque for more than $4,200 to the Town of Osoyoos last week, which allowed the town to purchase a state-of-the-art camera that was installed on top of a hydro pole adjacent to an osprey nest on another hydro pole located near Osoyoos Elementary School. Viewers can observe the majestic birds protecting their home on the town’s website 24 hours a day. (Keith Lacey photo)
Bird watchers and nature lovers – and members of the public at large – can now watch Mother Nature perform her magic as a new camera has been installed in Osoyoos that broadcasts an osprey nest.
Ospreys have flown back to nest for the summer in Osoyoos and across the South Okanagan and residents of the Town of Osoyoos now have a front row seat to the show as a camera has been installed to watch over a nest discovered on a FortisBC power pole.
The nest was discovered on top of a power pole more than a decade ago.
The town and FortisBC management have reached a deal where FortisBC would pay to have a state-of-the-art camera mounted on a separate pole near the nest for optimum viewing and convenience, said Todd Romano, operations manager for FortisBC in the South Okanagan.
FortisBC crews went to work and completed the task earlier this week.
FortisBC presented a cheque for $4,200 to the Town of Osoyoos, which allowed the town to pay for a contractor to purchase and install the camera, said Gerald Davis, the town’s director of community operations.
FortisBC and the town saw an opportunity to use the nest as an educational tool, said Romano.
“The idea was to set up a camera and stream a live feed of the ospreys,” he said. “But there was a catch. Our team couldn’t install a camera on the power pole. If there were any adjustments to be made, FortisBC power line technicians would be required to ensure they were done safely, creating an inconvenience for everyone involved.”
Mounting the camera on a separate pole was the obvious answer and FortisBC agreed to donate the pole free of charge to the town, said Romano.
The osprey nest in question sits atop a power pole located only a few feet from the front entrance to Osoyoos Elementary School.
“That nest has been here somewhere between 10 to 15 years because I’ve been here for more than a decade and it was there when I arrived in town,” said Davis.
The town had been looking for a solution to allowing the ospreys to use their nest without causing problems with the FortisBC electrical grid, said Davis.
About two months ago, Davis said Steve Shannon from the town contacted FortisBC officials and discovered Fortis has a community grant program that is available for special projects.
Further discussions led to FortisBC agreeing to install the additional pole and provide the funding to have the camera installed, said Davis.
“Fortis has been fantastic,” he said. “We came up with a plan and they like the idea and we finished the deal in a matter of a couple of weeks.”
The camera that has been installed provides 24-hour coverage of the osprey nest and shows a breeding couple in all their majesty going to and from the nest.
“The camera has night vision capabilities so you can watch them 24 hours a day,” he said.
More than 400 people had viewed the camera on the town’s website in the first three days it was installed last Tuesday, said Davis.
Romano said FortisBC was involved in installing another pole and paying for another osprey camera at a location in Kelowna last year and that’s why it was able to reach a deal with the Town of Osoyoos so quickly, said Romano.
“We received very good reaction from the public to our project in Kelowna and we thought we could do something about the nest in Osoyoos,” he said.
For many reasons, ospreys like to build nests up high and hydro poles have proven to be a very popular location, he said.
Many years ago, technicians would simply knock the nests down, but that is no longer politically or socially acceptable so FortisBC made a corporate decision to find a way to allow the osprey nests to thrive on top of hydro poles, while not interrupting the power grid or endangering the birds, he said.
“Building alternate nesting platforms has proven successful,” he said. “The more birds you help, the more they breed, so it’s still a problem, but we’re dealing with each nest one at a time to see what we can do.”
The link for the webcam is: http://www.osoyoos.ca/content/osprey-nest-live-webcam
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
