Two ospreys fret in the open skies above Paynes Prairie as their nest is held aloft by nothing more than a thin plate and the crane ties connected to it.
Far below, a combination of bucket trucks, cranes and post-hole diggers take down the aged and rotting wooden power-line poles and then transfer wires to the steel replacements.
Only then can the nest be secured to its new home and its inhabitants return.
Assessments by utility company Progress Energy Florida found 10 transmission-line poles that run through the park parallel to the southbound lane of U.S. Route 441 needed replacement. Two of them held occupied osprey nests the Florida Department of Environmental Protection requested be transferred to the new poles.
As of Monday, one nest had been successfully moved, and its original inhabitants had already returned, David Jowers, a park manager at the preserve, wrote in an email.
As the ospreys move into mating season, it’s important any eggs remain undisturbed, he wrote.
Workers in boom lifts must check the nests from a safe distance before work around the pole can start.
“If there are eggs in the nest, the project will be put on hold until proper permitting can be established or until the eggs hatch and young leave the nest,” Jowers wrote.
Sterling Ivey, spokesman for Progress Energy, said the new pole framings are more bird-friendly than the wooden predecessors, although some deterrents are also included to protect the poles and wires from the prairie’s heavy bird activity.
On the ground beneath the lines, a swath of prairie has been reduced to a puddled and muddy road churned daily by the various vehicles and equipment. Although the land is owned by the Department of Environmental Protection, a right of way was permitted to Progress Energy.
“Restoration to any disturbed lands is done by restoring to ‘as-is’ or better conditions,” Ivey said. “This is regardless of the land being a state land or customer property.”
Jowers wrote that the prairie has been invaded by woody plants in the last few years, and the equipment being used by Progress Energy, notably the Marsh Master, is what the basin needs to return to its intended swampy habitat.
“The Friends of Paynes Prairie, a citizen support organization, is currently raising funds to purchase a Marsh Master for Paynes Prairie Preserve to help gain access to the basin marsh for resource management,” Jowers wrote.
The project should be completed sometime in April, Ivey said.
