An Osprey Nest Wreaks Havoc in Bordering Maine Towns for 10 Hours

Honestly, nothing is shocking in the world anymore after surviving 2020. To the point that suggesting an entire species of birds may be waging war against an entire state for something that happened back in April 2024 seems completely logical.

Osprey Nest Bath Maine

According to locals, for over 40 years, a family of osprey birds, year after year, would construct a nest on the same telephone pole located along Leeman Highway in Bath, Maine.

It was a tradition that Bath locals and even people from neighboring communities came to love and enjoy seeing every year. And it was why there was so much clapback when, on April 2, 2024, Central Maine Power removed the nest due what they said were safety reasons for the bird

Maine Tornadoes

Fast forward two months to June 23, 2024, on a day where weather reports from the National Weather Service out of Gray predicted severe thunderstorms throughout New Hampshire and Maine -- so severe that they came with the threat of possible tornadoes -- Brunswick, Maine, locals were shocked to randomly lose power around 10:30a that morning.

At first, it was assumed to be weather-related, and almost instantly, CMP sent out a message indicating power would be restored by 12:45p that day. That quickly changed to 6p, was reduced down to 4p, pushed back to 6p, and finally pushed back to 8p, when it was fully restored.

And while the weather remained mostly quiet throughout the day other than the occasional passing shower, it was an automated phone call from CMP that cleared up the confusion.

Brunswick Osprey Power Outage

The outage was caused when an osprey nest came in contact with the equipment on a transmission line in Brunswick. Our crews are bringing in specialized equipment to make the necessary repairs and are working on switching circuits to restore some customers.

As crews worked to repair, they discovered more damage than initially suspected, with two insulators also needing to be replaced. While originally believed to just be an outage affecting part of Brunswick, CBS 13 reported that Harpswell, Maine, residents were also affected and over 8,000 customers were without power for around 10 hours.

CMP managed to restore power to customers just as the severe thunderstorms rolled through the area later that evening. An update on whether any osprey were injured in this apparent counterattack from the April nest removal is unknown at this time.