ENCINITAS – Camille Clemens has seen many people build homes and move to Encinitas in her 51 years as a resident of Cardiff.
Clemens bought her home in 1975, over 10 years before the city incorporated, and told The Coast News that many of her neighbors have been unchanged in that time. They saw the population grow from around 5,000 in 1970 and 10,000 in 1980 to over 60,000 residents in 2025, according to the U.S. Census.
But in April, one family new to the area caught her eye.
“When you’re driving down Manchester, you’re looking at traffic, but you’re also looking at the birds,” she said.
Clemens noticed some ospreys had begun building a nest atop a power pole along Manchester Avenue near the San Elijo Campus of MiraCosta College as well as the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church.
“That’s when we started watching the process,” Clemens said. “It was really smart — mom and dad did a good job, because it’s so ideally suited by the lagoon where the fish supply is.”
While other North American raptors can eat fish, ospreys are rare for their dependence on the food source. The species developed reversible outer toes and barbed pads on the soles of their feet to help grip slippery fish, according to Cornell University’s All About Birds ornithology lab.
They are commonly seen around water sources and have been known to build nests atop man-made structures, which has contributed to the success story of the species. Osprey populations dwindled in the 1950s and ‘60s due in part to chemical pesticides, but have rebounded to a global population of around 1.2 million, according to the Partners in Flight Database.
Osprey are known to return to the same nest during their 15- to 20-year lifespans, adding twigs, sod and other building materials each year, according to the Cornell lab. Nests can reach depths of 10-13 feet.
Clemens describes herself as “a neighborhood observer” who likes to “pay attention to details” but is not a formally trained birder. However, she and her community of neighbors took an interest in the new osprey family that included a couple of new additions that hatched this summer.
Then one day in late July, the nest was gone and a social media post observed one of the birds returned to the power pole despite the nest no longer being there.
“That was their home,” Clemens said.
What happened to the nest?
Since the nest had been located on one of its power poles, San Diego Gas & Electric also took an interest in the new Encinitas residents.
Alex Welling, a spokesperson for SDGE, told The Coast News that nests so close to active electricity pose a serious risk to safety.
“Those nests can be extremely flammable,” Welling said. “When it comes to safety, that’s our No. 1 priority. And I’m not just talking about fire safety, but environmental safety.
“We’re really careful when it comes to protecting our resources — our ecological resources.”
SDGE applied for and received a special use utility permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the nest. The Coast News verified the permit with the service that exists within the U.S. Department of the Interior.
A spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service added that such permits were fairly common when it comes to power line infrastructure.
The spokesperson also said that it had worked with SDGE over two years to develop the Avian Protection Plan.
Welling said the program includes bird-safe designs for new infrastructure as well as retrofitting existing facilities to ensure the safety of raptors, migratory birds and other avian species.
“These measures help reduce bird interactions with electric equipment, supporting wildlife protection, system reliability and wildfire risk reduction,” he said.
Welling added that SDGE was the first utility company in the state to develop a habitat conservation plan, which includes more than 40 endangered or threatened species in its coverage area.
He said the internal team of biologists and avian experts had monitored the nest for two months “waiting for the nest to be inactive” only after the “eggs were hatched and the [three] chicks were fully fledged.”
The utility company also partnered with the Nature Collective to ensure the health of the young osprey.
“They’re a fantastic organization, they do such great work with that lagoon and educating the community,” Welling said.
Biologists with Nature Collective observed one of the young ospreys sitting atop a nearby light post holding a fish, confirming it had found ways to hunt and feed itself.
The group has also said it is exploring other long-term solutions.
Clemens said that she understood the fire risk, but wished solutions other than removing the nest had been enacted.
She said her dream would have been for SDGE to deactivate the pole and route power another way, while also documenting the effort in ways similar to the Big Bear Bald Eagle Livestreams program.
“If it doesn’t have any electricity, the fire danger is nil,” Clemens said. “I would still love to see a pole close enough to rebuild and a camera.
“With all of that silliness that we don’t have that much control over, there’s something like this that’s local that could’ve been a counterbalance.”
