One of the more exciting plans for Salt Point this season is an effort to attract a bald eagle or osprey to nest there.  Town officials identified an unused utility pole in the middle of the nature preserve on which to locate a special platform capable of supporting a large nest.  Lansing Park Superintendent Steve Colt got in touch with NYSEG to make sure the power is turned off, and found an unexpected resource. 

As it turns out NYSEG regional forester for Ithaca and the Fingerlakes Paul Paradine is a Lansing resident who doesn't live far from Myers Park and Salt Point.  Colt says he is enthusiastic about erecting the nesting platform.

"He's a great guy, very much into birding," Colt says.  "We're going to meet with him next week.  I believe he is going to be very supportive of the construction of the actual platform and putting the platform in place."

Colt says that if the pole isn't high enough it may be extended or replaced to give it the height needed to attract a bald eagle or osprey to nest there.  The Town has plans from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology to construct a platform with a mesh floor that will be mounted on the top of the pole.

Bald eagles have been sited at Salt Point, along Salmon creek, and in the Ithaca Inlet.

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