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.

Although 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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Bird causes power outage for 3,000 in western Malibu

Update, 2:30 p.m.: More than 3,000 Edison customers in western Malibu have a bird to thank for an hourlong power outage on Wednesday afternoon. 

An unidentified species of bird apparently came into contact with a major-serving live wire just before 1 p.m. and caused 3,152 customers to lose their lights, according to Southern California Edison spokeswoman Nancy Rodriguez Casanova. The bird did not survive its encounter with Edison's equipment.

One bird has the capacity to do a lot of damage if it strikes a major wire such as the one it hit near Heathercliff Road and Dume Drive, Edison spokesman Mark Olson said. 

"Occasionally they get in the wrong place and contact two live wires or one live wire and one piece of equipment," Olson said. "This one contacted the live wire and something else on the pole that created a path for power to travel." 

Continued:  http://www.malibutimes.com/news/article_9d7758c6-6023-11e2-9fef-001a4bcf887a.html