If you look closely at medium-tension power lines in Switzerland, especially at pylons where the cables are suspended below the horizontal bars, you will notice that there are metal spikes (which electricity companies call “bird-spikes”) placed at the ends of the bars to discourage large birds from perching there. However, these devices do not prevent raptors from landing on pylons, and we have even observed some of our young Ospreys settling on top of the spikes!
Unfortunately, there have been quite a few cases recorded where birds accidentally get entangled or even impale themselves on these spikes. We still remember last summer when one of our young Ospreys, 19 days after he had been released, inadvertently flew in thick fog straight into one of these spikes, and did not survive the accident. In the meantime, the electricity company Groupe-E agreed, at our request, to remove these structures from all of the pylons near the release area. On June 13th they temporarily shut off the power in order to safely allow their team to undertake this task. We thank Groupe-E warmly for making these electricity pylons much safer.
