A Simple Technology Could Help Stop Birds From Colliding With Power Lines
It’s not rocket science, but it does build on the avian ability to see UV lights—with strong results.
During spring migration, more thanhalf a million Sandhill Cranes visit the shores of Nebraska’s Platte River, a critical stopover where the species has roosted . But for some unlucky birds, this ancient place of respite is a modern deathtrap. Every year, dozens to many hundreds of cranes suffer deadly collisions with two electrical transmission lines that cross the river at APP’s .
Now a biologist has landed on a new method that seems to slash crane fatalities at the property. If his results, published inThe Condor: Ornithological Applications, can be expanded to other sites, the technology would offer a new way for the industry to address a hazard that in the United States alone.
James Dwyer, a scientist who helps electric utilities build more avian-friendly infrastructure,embarked on the research because he saw that a key practice for trying to prevent accidents—the use of reflective, glow-in-the-dark, or other kinds of markers on the wires—wasn’t worth much when the sun went down.“It was clear to me that the industry standard was not having a sufficient effect,” he says.
With engineering colleagues at , the utility-technology company where he works, Dwyerdeveloped what he dubbed an “avian-collision-avoidance system.”But whileitsname may sound better suited to a high-end jet, the system is actually rather simple; it's asolar-powered devicefitted withultraviolet lightsthat, when mounted on transmission poles, shineon the wires. The goal: Make the linesmore visible to birds, while trying to avoid light pollution complaints from neighbors. “We went with UV light because birds can see it and people can’t,” Dwyer says.
Though he wasn’t certain that Sandhill Cranes could see the shorter light waves, more studies are showing a wide range of birds—from storks and puffins to loons and owls—have eye structures that detect violet or ultraviolet frequencies. Based on this, Dwyer launchedforward with the experiment in spring of 2018. Theresults exceededhis expectations.
After the utility, Dawson Public Power, gave the go-ahead to test the system at Rowe Sanctuary, a technician monitored a single850-foot span of power line on the property for 19nights with the UV lights turned on and 19 with them switched off.
In the study, the teamreported that the Sandhill Crane collision tally dropped from 48 in the nights without UV lights to only one with them. What’s more, the number of “dangerous flights”—instances when a flock approached near the line and didn't stop or swerve—also decreased by 82 percent, from 217 to 39. The researchersalso noticed that more birds changed their flight path fromat least 80 feet away from the line, giving them clearance room to avoid a brush with death.
At Rowe,the power lines are already fitted with colorful coils and hanging tags that havereduced some crane fatalities—so manycollisions today occur either in foggy weather or at night. Sanctuary conservation director Andrew Pierson was impressed by the newresults.“It seems quite positive,"he says. "It seems like it worked."
Sanctuary staff are already in ongoing conversationswith Dawson Public Power about options for reducing crane deaths, including bigger steps likeburying the lines underground or redirecting them to a less sensitive location. If the new collision-avoidance technology becomes available, Pierson is optimistic the utility will consider it. Henotes that it could also help Whooping Cranes, which face similarrisks while passing through the Platte habitat.
“[The utility]is worried about collisions, too, especially collisions regarding an endangered, listed species. This represents a fairly cheap opportunity,” he says.
While the results are promising and offera new preventative approach, more testing is required to demonstrate that UV lightsworkbroadly for other birds and sites, says Richard Loughery, director of environmental activities at the Edison Electric Institute.He helps coordinate the, an industry collaboration with wildlife and conservation managers that funds research, works on siting issues, and publishes protocols for avoiding birdcollisions and electrocution. The Aldo Leopold Foundation, for example, turned to these guidelinesto win strong preventative measures—including lower towers and use of line markers—on a new transmission projectnear its Leopold-Pine Island Important Bird Area in Wisconsin, says the organization’s conservation director Steve Swenson.
Another open question is whetherUV lights can be a substitute forline markers,or whether the two methods need to be paired up, like in Dwyer's study. Installation of line markers can require a helicopter, so it isn’t always cheap or easy, Dwyer says. Less expensiveoptions, such asthe UV lights, could lower the bar for utilities to monitor andprotect more birds at a wider range of sites than they do today. That’s the upshot that Dwyer is striving for:"It can solve both the biology problem and the industry problem."