STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — Editor's note: The video in the player above is from an unrelated story published on April 12, 2021.
The Illuminating Company and wildlife officials came together on Wednesday to protect an active red-tailed hawk's nest, situated on a transformer in Strongsville.
According to officials, the work done not only helps to protect the nest, but also will prevent power disruptions in the area that could have been caused by the fire hazard.
The Illuminating Company worked with U.S Fish and Wildlife Services to install a new pole and transformer adjacent to the existing equipment, and power was successfully redirected to the new equipment without impacting customers.
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Wildlife officials believe that this solution should keep the birds and their eggs safe until the hatchlings fly the coop in the fall.
"Disturbing or removing nests can be a complicated task due to environmental regulations," said Amy Ruszala, an environmental scientist and avian expert at FirstEnergy. "When a nest with eggs is situated on our equipment and poses a serious threat to the birds' safety and our service reliability, we work with state and federal wildlife officials to devise a plan to keep the birds out of harm's way and the power flowing reliably to our customers."
Officials say that birds of prey, including red-tailed hawks, often seek out tall structures like utility poles and electric transmission towers to build their nests. This habit tends to place birds like the red-tailed hawk in jeopardy of losing their nest, and potentially cause power outages.
The Illuminating Company says it plans to remove the transformer on which the hawk nest is currently situated, once the birds fly south for the winter. Personnel will also install nesting deterrents atop the new electrical equipment to discourage birds from nesting there in the future.
The Illuminating Company says that in addition to including the implementation of drones to complete bird nest inspections, the company has recently deployed a mobile app that allows utility personnel to report avian issues in real-time which streamlines the process to protect nesting birds and enhance electric service reliability.
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