As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Saturday, 13 September 2014

South African energy company re-routes electricity lines to save buzzard's nest

A recent power outage affecting six towns near Vredendal, north of Cape Town in South Africa, was traced to a jackal buzzard that had made its nest in the wires and hatched two chicks.
news/chicks_sitting_in_the_nest-before_line_was_re-routedAlthough jackal buzzards are not endangered, they play a vital role in the sensitive, arid landscape surrounding Vredendal, so engineers from the Eskom power company contacted the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) for assistance. 

Although several suggestions were put forward on how to resolve the outage problem, one thought was common for both Eskom and the EWT – that the nest should not be removed.

It was decided that the best course of action, causing the least disturbance, would be to re-route the power line. 

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