We’re filing this one under you can’t make this stuff up.
There were a lot of complaints coming our of Nags Head yesterday about cell phone service; calls being dropped, poor connections. The type of service that most of us thought had been consigned to history 15 or 20 years ago.
Most of the complaints were from Verizon customer.
As it turns out, it was not their imagination.
It seems there was an osprey nest on a monopole tower at the Nags Head Town Hall.
Why there weren’t complaints earlier about bad service, that will probably remain a mystery, but Verizon is pretty sure the nest is the culprit in the most recent incident.
Osprey are a fairly common raptor seen along the Outer Banks. They are a beautiful graceful bird in flight and amazing at seeking out fish and grabbing them from the water.
In the 1970s osprey were almost killed off by DDT, a powerful insecticide that softens eggshells of raptors. With the banning of DDT in 1972 osprey have made a dramatic comeback and are now probably as numerous as they have ever been.
Nonetheless, there are protected under the Migratory Bird Protection Act. From March to August, their nesting sites cannot be disturbed. So—if an osprey couple decide a cell tower monopole is the ideal location for a nest, it’s theirs for six months. Luckily they usually choose other sites.
There are quite a number of nesting sites lining the shoreline of Outer Banks sounds that have been built for them. Their nests, whether on top of a pole with a flat surface or high up in a tree are distinctive—a large circular pile of sticks and branches that can’t be missed.
Typically an osprey couple will raise one to two chicks, with the chick taking its first flight toward the end of July. A migratory species, the family has to be ready to for its migratory flight by early September. Some osprey migrate to Florida, but a great many fly to South America for the winter.
The natural side of the Outer Banks is a place of wonder calling out to be explored. Begin your journey of exploration in a Brindley Beach Vacations home.
