• 30 August 2019

E-Distribuție electricity network to provide increased safety for storks

“For me, the ideal but science-fiction scenario would be that all electrical networks be underground, but with the poles left standing for the birds’ nests!” What else would rather think an ornithologist, always with the protection of species in mind? This is the vision of Sebastian Bugariu, from the Romanian Ornithological Society, with whom I spoke recently.

But what do birds have to do with electricity? As electricity grids have long been integrated into their habitat, they often stop on power lines or poles, where some species, such as the white stork, also make their nests. They see our network as a nesting network. Sometimes they get electrocuted, which has a negative impact especially when it comes to rare species, with very few individuals left. Of course, the accident also means a malfunction in the network, which needs to be repaired as soon as possible, so that our customers suffer as little as possible.

What are the hazardous situations?

For birds in flight, electric conductors are dangerous when the weather is foggy, rainy or in other low visibility conditions, when the birds may hit them with speeds of 20-30 km/h.

You've certainly seen birds on electrical cables. As long as they sit there or on the pole, they are not in danger. The problem arises when the bird approaches the pole and touches both the non-insulated electrical line and the pole or metal part, that is, it reaches the console area. Due to the difference in electric potential between the console and the conductor, the bird gets electrocuted.

Usually larger birds are more exposed to this risk, since they have a larger wings amplitude, and may reach danger zones when they take off. White storks are in danger when they nest, but also when they are in migration - when, for example, they leave the countries North from Romania and stop in our area to rest or wait for the bad weather to pass. In this case, it is possible that the entire muster of storks sit on the line from one pole to the other and as a result get mass-electrocuted, as it happened on an unfortunate day for 40 storks transiting Tulcea County.

Let's get to know storks better

You may think that, in the case of protected species, we only have a duty to protect birds that nest on the territory of our country. But this is not true, migrating birds also need good “accommodation” or travel conditions. For white storks, Romania is both a nesting area and a stop on their migration route from Germany, Poland, Ukraine, the Baltics etc. to Africa or on their way back in spring.

We have to imagine that storks have no perception whatsoever of borders. For them, geographical barriers will rather be perceived as borders - for example a mountain chain, and that’s when we talk about populations. We have a significant population of storks, they nest in pretty large numbers in many areas, except in high altitude areas, but we can see a large number of storks in Transylvania as well, but also in the Southern area along the Danube, along large rivers and so on. The Carpathians and the Black Sea determine a migration corridor that was named Via Pontica, including the largest part of the Lower Danube area, Dobrogea and a portion of the Bărăgan.

Sebastian Bugariu, ornithologist with the Romanian Ornithological Society

White storks that nest here reach our country in March. Each year, they come back to the very same nest, which they “restore” - widen, deepen, keep adding building materials to it, which make it heavier - some nests may get as heavy as one ton, which increases the risk for the birds and for the electricity network.

Storks prefer to live in populated areas, close to humans and sources of food - fields, rivers, lakes. This year a nest was observed with an unheard number of chicks - seven - so it is very important for the storks to find the resources to raise them until flight exercises and the departure on their first adventure, in August.

Digital census, a successful citizen science project

Between 25 June and 31 July each year, the Romanian Ornithological Society launches a call to all owners of a smartphone to enter the stork nests they observe in the “Uite, barza!” [Look, a stork!] app designed in 2017 with support from Enel companies. During this period of time, chicks are large enough to be visible in the nest - their number is input in the app, including the exact location of the nest and other details. This is the kind of information that anyone can provide, it doesn’t have to come from specialists, but all the data collected are passed on to scientists, who review and use them. This is the first citizen science project in Romania, creating a map of the nests each year. In 2019, for example, approximately 700 new nests were discovered.

What can we, E-Distribuție, do for the storks?

The information collected in the application is useful for us as well, because we know where there are risks. Every year, we have dozens of accidents in the electricity network we manage, therefore we are interested in anything that could help us improve the situation - like the exact location of nests.

One of the solutions we implement is to mount insulating sheets at pole level, insulating the portion where most incidents happen.

Another solution is to raise the nests, before the storks come back in spring, or in other periods, in special cases. We take the nest down very carefully, we mount a metal support on the pole then put the nest back. This may sound simple, but it is something you need to be experienced with - nests are heavy and we absolutely don’t want to break them! Once raised, their weight no longer pressures the conductors. Inexperienced chicks are now sufficiently away from network elements so that they don’t reach the danger zones.

The most difficult part is to lower the nest without breaking it, in order to mount the support. However difficult, raising nests is important to protect the birds against electrocution, in particular when the chicks learn to fly.

Victor Chiriac, chief-engineer, Medium and Low Voltage Zone, E-Distribuție

Over time we mounted many such supports, only last year we mounted 100 in the three areas where we maintain the electricity distribution network - Banat, Dobrogea and Muntenia.

The team of electricians is installing a stork's nest
Watch the video

Among other bird protection actions, we partnered with other distribution companies in the country and with other collaborators, together with the Romanian Ornithological Society, in a LIVE national project in which we mounted, in the counties where we operate the electricity network, boxes to act as artificial nests on high voltage lines, for very rare species who need special support. Remember the saker falcon that you could watch in real-time video in its nest this spring?

Ornithologists would also like us to insulate the medium voltage lines in areas identified as concentration points in the migration route - grassland or plains, where there is sufficient food, but no trees where the storks could stop. On the other hand, we have to balance other consequences as well, since the insulation of medium voltage lines could have negative consequences. Repairing an uninsulated cable generally takes one hour. Repairing an insulated cable can take up to five hours - we take it down, put a special coating around it, put it back up. On the other hand, low voltage lines in populated areas will be insulated, in time, in the future, as in localities we also encounter issues in the interaction with roadside trees.

Other areas where biologists believe it could be useful to insulate network segments are certain protected sites, for which the Romanian Ornithological Society develops management plans. Researchers have a special method to assess mortality on power lines - there are field teams going out once or twice a month and checking bird accidents along the line - which species, how many birds. After reviewing the data, they make recommendations.

Protecting biodiversity is about the sustainability of our companies

As you might suspect, E-Distribuție companies are ISO certified for environment protection, which means that we have policies in place ensuring that we reduce our impact on nature at every step. More details here.

But it’s not just about policies. Protecting the environment is a key element of the Enel Group philosophy at global level, as reinforced by facts and by our commitment to a number of UN sustainable development goals. Read here about the vision of an energy global leader as regards its responsibility towards the environment.

Our NGO collaborators also believe that an integrated vision is needed:

A long term wish would be to see that the protection of nature becomes more and more significant in policies dictating the activity of companies. And this has been going on for several years now. Protecting nature should be something normal, not an add-on to the core activity, but part of it, it requires active involvement.

Sebastian Bugariu, ornithologist with the Romanian Ornithological Society

Research-based action

We get actively involved based on information from specialists. Ornithologists have several methods by which they collect data on white storks. Two of them are placing rings on the chicks and the “Uite, barza!” app.

Ringing is the most important scientific research activity for bird migration for over a hundred years. It is a simple way to “mark” a bird - a metal ring with a code is placed around its foot, not bothering the bird at all. Based on recapturing birds in various places in the worlds (as they died or were intentionally caught), many coordinates in the birds’ life were determined, and this is how migration routes were established. Later, color rings were added - in addition to the metal ring, a color ring is placed on the other foot, this being readable from a distance with a binocular. This hugely increased the level of information, since the rings could be read on site, without having to capture the bird or wait for it to die. We could get even more information with satellite transmitters, but the technology still remains expensive for mass use.

Since storks nest in populated areas, ringing is easy to implement. Migration routes are already known, so we place greater interest on additional information on mortality factors - identifying the areas where many birds suffer accidents. How do the ornithologists get the information? Those who find the birds see the ring and report the case. If this happens to you, please contact the Romanian Ornithological Center or the Romanian Ornithological Society or the local environment protection agencies. Those who are most likely to find birds in the area of electric networks are the electricians themselves. They are the first on site in case of a malfunction and it is very important for the Romanian Ornithological Society to receive from them any information on rings and the incident.

We help the Romanian Ornithological Society with ringing every year, under the coordination of supervisors in the respective areas. The Romanian Ornithological Society checks the status of nests in chosen localities and then the magic happens: a direct collaboration between a team of ornithologists and a team of electricians, the only ones authorized to operate electric installations. The boom lift takes the electrician (who is, of course, bound to comply with all safety measures!) up to the nest.

At this point, the parent storks already flew from the nest and carefully fly over the area. The ringing takes place at a specific time in June, when chicks are sufficiently developed to allow the rings to be placed, but not large enough to try to fly and fall out from the nest. Storks are not aggressive at all, and chicks even less so: their strategy is to lie flat on their bellies until the process is over - ornithologists place the rings, take their measurements, and the electrician takes them back to the nest. A few minutes later, chicks are on their feet again, as if nothing happened - only now they are wearing jewelry!

Most recently, we provided support for ringing 61 chicks in Dobrogea at the end of June, in the area Mahmudia - Murighiol - Dunavăț - Victoria - Sarinasuf, in Tulcea county. We approached the nests with respect and emotion, sad to see plastic and garbage between the branches forming the nest, which place unknowing chicks in danger of choking.

Community event. Ringing was a special moment not only for the teams of specialists, but also for the locals, who came out in the street worrying. They learned why we took the chicks from the nests, how we placed identification rings on them, and even got to see the chicks up close, which is an interesting thing at all ages! Such actions have high long-term potential, as they are an experience for the community, people now have knowledge as well, besides the local pride of being neighbors with such friendly birds. Ringing is a scientific action, but also plays this role in increasing awareness.

App impact. “Uite, barza!”, the app downloaded 10,000 times in 2019, always brings useful location data of nests and risks. This information is now made available to all electricity distributors in the country - the Romanian Ornithological Society ornithologists will send specific analyses and cases where network specialists may give a hand. We are in permanent contact with the Romanian Ornithological Society, we share information and we consult with them on each and every case. When they report an issue, we record a disturbance and take action. Any of our colleagues carrying out network interventions is sure to have a stork story of his own!

When I was the head of the center in Buftea, I got a call one day from one of the field colleagues, who asked whether to act on a report from the Romanian Ornithological Society: a stray chick left behind by its family, alone on a pole. I told him, of course, take action and take pictures as well. They took the chick down using a special tool and placed it in the care of one of the locals, until the association came.

Lucian Lupulescu, MVLV North Operations Unit Head, E-Distribuție Muntenia

See you next spring. Storks already left for Africa, nests are now empty, but their stories remain in the memory of communities in which they integrate so naturally. We will continue to answer the call when ornithologists ask for our help, and we look forward to see the storks back next spring!