The Berlin
Cit itiz ize en Volume 13, Number 24
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Berlin is home to some unusual wildlife
Running for a cause
By Olivia L. Lawrence Associate Editor
Citizen photo by Nick Carroll
Members of the Berlin Police Department, along with a Special Olympics athlete, are joined by the McGee Middle School track team during the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics June 5. The runners are seen here on Farmington Avenue. The Berlin Police Department participates each year in this fundraising event which covers six miles in Berlin. The “Flame of Hope” is carried through 50 states and to 35 nations. In Connecticut, the Torch Run covers some 640 miles and travels through more than 100 cities and towns. Runners are sponsored, and this year’s goal is to raise more than $500,000 for Connecticut Special Olympics.
Trash vote question may be confusing By Olivia L. Lawrence Associate Editor To avoid any confusion, the Town Council authorized the Town Clerk to create an explanatory text to be posted and available to voters for the June 23 trash referendum. It will be posted at the American Legion poll where the vote will be held and also at the Town Clerk’s office. The topic was discussed at the June 2 Council meeting. Town Clerk Kate Wall said it had been brought to her attention that, because of the referendum question’s wording, people may not know how to vote on the issue concerning whether or not the town will move to an automated trash collection system or stay with the current manual collection.
Mayor Adam Salina concurred that “the question is confusing.” Question 1 — the only question on the ballot — reads: “Shall Ordinance No. 5-99, adopted March 30, 1999, as codified in Sections 46-31 through 46-73 of the Berlin Municipal Code, concerning the collection of Solid Waste including Recycling be amended?” YES NO The explanatory text states that a “yes” vote would mean that you are in favor of the manual trash collection system provided it is available to the town. A “no” vote would mean that you are in favor of the automated trash collection contract which was approved by the Town Council Feb. 3. “It will give people a very good idea of how to vote,” Wall said.
Wildlife sightings in Berlin this spring have featured one particularly extraordinary — and often elusive — nesting bird. The Citizen has received a number of reports that an osprey has built a nest in a wire platform nearly at the top of the 182 foot cell tower at town hall. Some observers believe there are nestlings. Other sightings around town include a beaver at Papergoods Pond and the now familiar wild turkey. Wildlife experts offered advice on how to live in harmony with these native species. Osprey Julie Victoria, a wildlife biologist with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, wildlife division, is about to embark on a new osprey count. Berlin was not on her originally planned route from Stonington to Greenwich, but she said “It will be now.” Victoria is also checking into reports of a osprey on a tower in New Britain. It’s not unusual for the osprey to nest on manmade structures such as utility poles. As long as the tower doesn’t get used much by hu-
mans, the birds will find it acceptable, she said. At that height, “they can see all around,” she said. While the huge raptors with wing spans up to six feet are more commonly found along the shore, the main requirement for the bird is proximity to a body of water providing an adequate food supply. The birds’ diet is almost exclusively fish. Since the area offers the New Britain reservoir, Silver Lake and several other small ponds in the area — some stocked with fish — Berlin does have a suitable environment. The osprey or Pandion haliaetus, can grow 24 inches long. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts, with a black eye patch and wings. Victoria said the last time she conducted an osprey count, in 2001, there were 176 active nesting platforms. Of these, 152 produced successful fledgings — young that reach flying age — and 286 flegings were counted. This is a major turnaround from the early 1970s when the osprey population was decimated by pesticides.
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