Moving Day for Osprey Near I-405 in Renton

Keeping the electricity running safely sometimes requires a little natural conservation, as a Puget Sound Energy maintenance team demonstrated in Renton on April 23.

PSE crews on Tuesday moved an osprey nest off of an active power pole near Interstate 405 Tuesday in order to prevent the possibility of a power outage, fire and power lines falling onto the busy interstate.  

An osprey had made its nest on a power pole on the 1500 block of Seneca Ave. SW, just over 100 feet south of Interstate 405.

PSE spokesperson Roger Thompson said a maintenance team discovered an Osprey had built an extensive nest atop the power pole, and determined the branches were dangerously close to making contact with the live wires on the pole.

The Bellevue-based power company erected a stand-alone pole nearby and moved the nest of the lone osprey onto a wooden pallete and hoisted it on top of the man-made perch. The move was made in cooperation with the US Wildlife service, State Fish & Wildlife and the City of Renton.

"It's nesting season so they're out there building nests all over," said Thompson.

The osprey, sometimes called a "sea eagle", is a migratory raptor that survives on a diet of fish. The bird's wingspan can reach up to 6 feet. Osprey, along with several other raptor species such as the bald eagle, are protected under the national migratory bird act.

Thompson said PSE has created over 60 of these platforms in its service area in recent years and works closely with state and local authorities to protect birds, which can be harmed by the electric grid.

"If they touch that live wire, it's curtains," he said. "We put a lot of effort into ensuring this happens as seldom as possible."