New Haven Independent

UI’s foreclosure action took place Thursday morning.

The company did not touch the several nests in the surrounding trees. The removal was part of what has become a seasonal maintenance operation for the utility because the birds, liking the warmth a gazillion kilowatts beneath their abode provides, keep rebuilding.

The arboreal drama of the birds pleasing some neighbors while causing outages and noise pollution for others has been going on for several seasons. No cost-effective, technically feasible, and environmentally acceptable method has been found to keep the birds permanently off the poles.

According to UI spokesman Al Carbone, New Haven-dwelling monks got off easy: of the 89 nests removed this week, 56 were in West Haven, 18 in Stratford, 6 in Milford, three in Hamden, four in New Haven, and one each in East Haven and Bridgeport. The daunting rebuilding capacity of the birds, he said, is underlined by the fact that in March 68 nests were removed. “That means they rebuilt the 68 we took down and added 21 new ones.”

The nest removed in the Hill weighed in, it appeared, between 50 and 100 pounds. No surprise that the birds are out there eating all the time.

The crews wore masks, overalls, gloves. They had received specialized training, because no one knows what they’ll find inside the nests. The workers must also be careful that the twigs and branches not be intertwined with high voltage wires; crews have found, said Carbone, that the birds also often gnaw at the wires. In which case, the wires have to be taped.

After it was dropped to the street, the nest removed on Howard and Sea was carefully wrapped in a heavy a tarp and the area cleaned.

During the operation, the power was also turned off, which brought locals Mark DeAngelis and his father-in-law Rinaldo Agate out to witness the operation.

While some area residents were eager to have the nest removed, these two were a little saddened as they looked up. “I guess it’s the day of reckoning for them,” said DeAngelis. “But we found them cheerful and so musical. One of our neighbors fed them, and a few of the birds even began tapping their beaks on the window when the feeder ran out.”

Rinaldo Agate has been in the neighborhood for 50 seasons, far longer than the monk parakeets, who’ve been there for three or so. He said he would miss them, but he understood the nests on the poles simply had to go.

UI’s Al Carbone was at pains to point out that the removal of the nests, on the poles only, is for reasons of public safety. There was one fire in Milford, caused by the birds’ nest there, and some 15 or so calls to his office for nest removal since the summer. Carbone said the problem also affects ratepayers’ pocketbooks. “I mean, we now have to factor trucks and crews dealing with the birds into regular maintenance. We just have to regularly remove them in March, before the breeding season, and now, in October, when the nests are at their largest. Until a solution — and we’re working with the Department of Environmental Protection and other companies on that but nothing’s on the horizon yet — all this adds to the cost of electricity, which is already hitting customers hard.”

One inadvertent byproduct of the nest removals, according to the Independent’s own ornithological expert, Mark Aronson, is that the dispersed parakeets have appeared in many new backyards, making an addition to one’s Yard List possible. Experienced birders, who have lived in the same place a long time, can become cranky when no additions are made to their various lists. Aronson said the addition of Monk parakeet to his list has made him happy.

Friends of Animals, a national organization headquartered in Darien, has sued UI over the nest removals. Since the last nest removal, depositions have been taken, said Carbone, and the trial is scheduled for May 2008. The operation was videotaped by UI both for legal purposes and also to respond to people who jump to a judgment that birds have been harmed, Carbone said. The company also wants to demonstrate, with the size of the nests, the degree of safety impact.

A message left with the Friends of Animals for comment was not returned.

As the UI crew cleaned up, the Independent tried to locate some birds at their nest around the corner on Sea Street. This nest, smaller and with a more elongated shape and even a porthole-type door, high in the branches of a maple, seemed secure. A kind of message was left here too. However, no birds appeared available for comment, or song.