Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc.

After spending the day with Beartooth Electric sampling osprey I felt that I had a slightly better handle on what I was doing. Sampling with Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc. was going to be a good day for several reasons. We met Mike and Andrew from Yellowstone Valley Electric at the Duck Creek Fishing Access around 8:00 am that day. Also there was Monty Sullins. Monty is a member of the Yellowstone Valley Audubon Society and was crucial to the creation of this project. Monty was one of the original few that decided to make a concerted effort among the local Audubon chapter to search out and begin monitoring osprey nests along the Yellowstone River. Monty has been working on monitoring the osprey for several years now. Monty not only has the most osprey nests to monitor but also the longest stretch and yet he has been very faithful in monitoring them.
Monty Sullins holding an osprey nestling
The nest at the Duck Creek Fishing Access site is special for several reasons. It is listed as Nest #1 in my mapping system because it was erected in honor of someone that genuinely enjoyed birds. The platforms that you see throughout Montana have in large part a great deal to do with a few citizens that truly love the the outdoors and the birds that fly over them. These poles are not cheap so when one is erected in honor of someone that loves birds it's a big deal. I especially think it's cool because in a way it's like a living legacy. There is a family of osprey that live atop that platform with two nestlings. This man's memory lives on in the form of something he loves and to me that is pretty cool.
"Osprey #1 with Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc."
Another trend I began noticing was that this was the second power company to donate the largest truck they had. I have to be honest-the little kid in me thought this was pretty cool. It was like I went from playing with little Tonka Toys when I was little to being around the real thing!

The second nest that Yellowstone Valley Electric took us to was another privilege. Many of you might recognize this nest. Does "The Osprey Outpost" ring a bell? It's on the highway to Red Lodge just before Silesia so I'm sure that many of you have at the very least passed it. It's just an elderly couple that runs a small store out of their home, but they named their place after the osprey that live high up on the platform in their front yard. This nest has an interesting history. Osprey have a very high affinity for nesting on top of double-cross arm power poles-which is exactly what is next to the current platform. The couple cared very much for these osprey and did not want to lose them so they made a special agreement with the generous administration at Yellowstone Valley Electric to erect a platform adjacent to the current pole and change the height of the power lines in order to accommodate for the osprey. So up until this point the osprey have had a relatively uneventful life. That is, until a Canada goose decided to try and make this her new home. Canada Geese a real problem to nesting Osprey. They come early, don't seem too picky about where they lay their eggs, and are out of the nest early. But as evidenced by the rather high nest, these osprey had been there for a while and didn't appear ready to go down without a fight. And eventually they reclaimed their nest! Which is somewhat unusual but impressive nonetheless.

When we showed up there was nobody to be seen. I had really hoped that the owners would be able to see the osprey when we arrived but I couldn't find a phone number beforehand. I found a number on the front door and called but with no answer so we began working anyway. I had received permission from them early in February to go up to this nest as it was. Once we had gotten the chicks down, one of the owners came flying around on his John Deere gator  wondering who was getting near his osprey. He finally recognized me and I got to share something special with him: we let him hold one of the osprey nestlings. That felt really good on my part to be able to allow someone who cared so much for the birds on his property to finally hold one of them in his arms. Oh and one more thing...there was an unhatched Canada goose egg in the nest!
One of the owners of The Osprey Outpost holding an osprey nestling
One thing I appreciate about this project is that it allows me to give back to the people that help me. I don't know how many people can say that but it's a good feeling to be able to give back to those helping you in more than just words.
Mike-left Andrew-right
A huge thanks to Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc. for donating their equipment and time to this project! I couldn't have done this without you guys. Once again, I highly suggest that you send a thank you to the great people at Yellowstone Valley Electric. Jerry Ellis was crucial to getting us what we needed. You can contact them here - http://www.yvec.com/innerpage.php?cat_id=9

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