A pair of nesting osprey in Brunswick caused a blackout for some 5,000 Central Maine Power Co. customers today.

One of the osprey was carrying a branch to be used in constructing the seasonal home being built on a wooden transmission tower, when it dropped onto the wires, shutting down the distribution system there, said CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice.

The power was out between 11 a.m. and about 12:30 p.m. when the utility rerouted power to customers to avoid that section of the grid.

The substation where the raptors are nesting is located on Bath Road near Bath Iron Works Harding facility, she said.

This not the birds’ first offense. They – or a similar pair – have set up camp there before.

“This is the time of year they come back,” Rice said. “In the off-season we clear it out, but it’s been a struggle to keep them from doing that.”

A separate outage at almost the same time happened when a logging operation cut down a tree that hit a remote transmission line near Sanford Crossing Road in West Bath.

That mishap shut down power to 5,100 customers in Arrowsic, Bath, Georgetown, Wiscasset and Woolwich.

The power went out at 11:50 a.m. and was restored by 12:30 p.m.


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