I arrived at 7:30 Am and met Chris Bryant, FPL Biologist consultant at the nest site. He was monitoring the final repair of the fence that had to be taken down during removal of 3 power poles along the Bald Eagle Sanctuary northern perimeter. The workers started on the area directly in front of the nest and used no mechanized equipment to restore the fence posts and install new fencing. After that they continued to the other poles and were still working when I departed at 9:30 AM.
FPL has been very attentive to the FWC protection laws and regulations, having finished the major work of installing the new poles before October 1st, the official start of the nesting season. The old poles were sawed off above the bottom two wires, which are communication lines. These two lines must be removed from the old poles and attached to the new ones by the communication providers (perhaps Comcast and AT&T).
I think these eagles are so accustomed to human activity near the nest that it would not have disturbed them in the least, but FPL acted responsibly by having Chris there to observe their behavior.
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