Another Former Nest

 The nest at the top of the telephone pole was the first nest the osprey built on the pole, the one that was removed and replaced by the box by the electric company. It was actually their fifth attempt at building a nest. The edge of the river is at the bottom of the photo and the road parallels the water in this stretch, but it takes a hard right just before the telephone pole, going past the front of the house in the picture. The gentleman who owns the house has very generously given me permission to film from his dock, a portion of which can be seen over on the left. I have spent a lot of time there this year because it affords an unobstructed view of both the river and the osprey nest. Another gentleman who owns the ramp between the two wooden posts also gave me permission to use that spot. I have used it a lot in the past but have not used it much this year.

Here is a close-up shot of the same nest. You can see why the electric company built the nest box to create separation between the birds and the wires. Electrocution and nest fires are both real, though little known problems associated with raptors nesting on electrical equipment. "The large wingspans of raptors such as golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, osprey, and great horned owls enable them to simultaneously touch energized and/or grounded parts, potentially resulting in electrocution (Joint document of the Avian Power Line Interaction Committee and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).  They didn't raise any young in this nest and the electric co-op soon replaced it with the nest box.