It's a good problem to have.
A pair of ospreys, fish-eating birds of prey that resemble bald eagles because their heads are white and their bodies are dark, has built a nest in the tower used by Havre de Grace radio station WHGM 104.7 and other communications companies in the area.
The radio station's management has plans to boost its broadcast signal, a move that involves installation of a new antenna on the tower where the birds have made a temporary home, so the plan has been put on hold until after the ospreys are done nesting for the season.
The radio station's president and general manager, Jeff Davis, has a rather healthy outlook on the situation: "I didn't look at it as a setback. I looked at it as, we have got to protect the bird because it's our duty to do so, and because we have a legal obligation."
He went on to note that such issues are relatively common in his industry, adding that the preferred time for doing work on broadcast towers is during the colder months.
The reason businesses that rely on broadcast towers have this particular relationship with ospreys, according to Glenn Therres, an associate director with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife and Heritage Service, is the birds actually prefer to nest on structures constructed by humans. About 90 percent of nesting ospreys, he said, prefer such towers.
Human interactions with creatures in the natural world often aren't so happy. It is easy enough to think of instances where human activity has disturbed breeding grounds, disrupted migration routes or sullied feeding areas, so there's not much point in listing one or two examples.
Instances of human activity benefiting wildlife, however, are relatively uncommon. The matter of ospreys having an affinity for broadcast towers, bridges and marine channel markers is one such example. Another that comes to mind locally is the side effect of Aberdeen Proving Ground having so much of its testing range territory off limits to the general public. The post has become home to one of the largest colonies of bald eagles in the United States. The bald eagle population – which daily makes the trip to the lower Susquehanna River in search of fish – in turn draws large numbers of bird watchers from around the region.
As for the ospreys and the radio station in Havre de Grace, there may be a short-term setback for boosting power and increasing audience, but the situation has given the radio station the opportunity to adopt the birds as mascots.
Though they'll depart some time after the nesting season is over, the birds are likely to return to the same structure next year, Therres pointed out.
Plenty of businesses go to great lengths to find a suitable mascot. In this case, the radio station has had one take up residence right in its tower. Having to decide whether to officially form a business alliance with the birds is, like having to deal with a healthy wildlife population, a good problem to have indeed.