By Dean B. Wisecarver
Birds are often a problem for utilities. They seem to love those wooden poles. We have discovered two recurring problems experienced by rural utilities we work with in our program - woodpecker damage and large nests on the top of poles. While these problems may not be as important or common as other challenges your company faces, they can have some rather significantly negative results. We decided to do some research into both issues, and I'd be less than honest if I didn't say we have a few laughs along the way. That is not to say these are laughing matters if you are struggling with these problems so there is a serious basis for this article.
Woodpecker Damage Control
Lets start with woodpecker damage, a problem most common in the Southeastern states. First, you should know that virtually every species of woodpecker in North America is protected under Federal Wildlife Preservation rules. This means there are limits to what you can do to control their natural activity. For example, you cannot chase woodpeckers out of their established nests. Once they dig a nest into your pole you must wait for them to abandon the nest before you can fill the hole and add deterrent chemicals or devices. You cannot kill them off as a means of control except in the most serious situations, and then only with a permit from the Federal Government. That leaves only deterrent methods before nesting occurs or more ecologically oriented solutions either before or after nesting occurs.
Standard deterrent methods usually involve both chemical repellants and pole wrapping. The chemicals are non-toxic and work well for a while, but need to be replenished regularly. The pole wraps come in three varieties - solid rubberized wraps (which are also available pre-formed to protect cross arms), metal mesh, and plastic mesh. There are several manufactures of these products and with about 5 minutes of Internet surfing you can find most of them. However, some of our insured cooperatives in Georgia have told us that these birds are resourceful and adaptive and are able to quickly bypass or defeat most traditional barriers or protective sheathings installed on the poles.
Fortunately, there are two other control techniques that cooperatives may find effective. What is nice about these alternatives, for those of us who are mindful of the ecology, is that they actually make use of the inherent territoriality of woodpeckers so that the birds, themselves, wind up being part of “the fix.”
Georgia Transmission Company, a G&T recently insured in our program, taught us the first alternative. The photos and captions below were taken from GTC's 1999 Annual Report. The pictures and captions are fairly self-evident as to how this technique is accomplished. Here is a short synopsis:
The most severe damage woodpeckers cause to utility poles results from their nesting. The unique approach involves preserving the nest by cutting the damaged pole above and below the nest and strapping that stub onto the new pole. Established nests can be up to 40” from top to bottom so make sure your crews know to measure each hole to determine its exact size. The goal is to isolate the entire nest and, using high quality steel bailing straps (coated ones weather the best) and no-slip positive clamp-on fasteners, strap the nest section onto your new pole. It's best if the repositioned nest stays at approximately the same elevation as before so if you do this on the ground before placing the new pole, you'll need some idea of where to place the old stub on the new pole. Use a sturdy steel L-bracket or a gusset on the bottom of the cutout stub to secure it in place. We've been told that you may need to use a guy wire to compensate for weight imbalance, depending on the diameter of the poles and the size of the stub.
The beauty of this solution lies in the fact that the resident woodpecker usually will not expend energy digging a new home if he finds the old “house” is still there, intact. This means he will not normally be inclined to peck into your new pole. What's even better though is that in defending his “tree” (your new pole) he won't let other woodpeckers dig into it either. Subsequently, your unwanted guest gets to keep his established home and, as your permanent tenant, he is all too happy to police the property and prevent other feathered swatters from moving in and damaging the new pole. Everyone's happy, yes?
The other, somewhat similar, alternative is one I ran across during my research and comes from two professors at Texas A&M. I have pulled their description directly from their Web-published paper:
“All North American woodpeckers are primarily cavity nesters that excavate their own cavities, but some species occasionally use existing cavities or nest boxes. Placing cavity-type nest boxes on buildings in the vicinity of northern flicker damage has shown some success. Nest boxes are worth trying where other methods have failed. Nesting woodpeckers defend their territories and keep other woodpeckers away.
“Construct nest boxes from wood with a 2 1/2-inch-diameter entrance hole 16 to 20 inches above the floor. Inside dimensions should be about 6 x 6 inches, and the total height should be 22 to 26 inches. A front-sloping, hinged roof will shed rain and provide easy access. Fill the box with sawdust to entice the bird to remove the sawdust to the desired level. Supposedly by removing the sawdust, the bird is fooled into constructing its own nest.”
Nest-building on top of large poles
The other bird-related problem involves birds nesting on top of utility poles. This is more prevalent in the dry areas out west but also shows up in some coastal areas. One of our insured cooperatives out west had a pole-top nest blow down into the stingers of a pole-mounted transformer, catch fire, and drop down into the dry field below, causing a rather destructive field fire. It appears the larger the pole, the more likely it will be attractive to some birds as a nest site. There are several solutions to this problem, virtually all involving some type of wire or plastic device at the top of the pole that makes the pole less attractive as a nest site. Below is a photo of one of the less common and less known solution.
I don't have time or space in this article to cover the various techniques that can be used other than pole caps, but there are several. The cooperative that showed me these pole caps told me they have them made by local fiberglass fabricator in various sizes to match standard pole diameters. Since pole diameters in any given size class vary from pole to pole, they have the caps fabricated to the largest tolerance for the size classes. Again, there are many other anti-nesting techniques. I'm not recommending pole caps as the best or only solution. I discovered that 15 minutes or so of Internet surfing could turn up manufactures that offer such solutions.
I had fun doing this article, but I know these issues can be serious. If you have any comments about this article, or if you have other solutions or tips about non-lethal bird control we might share with others in our program, please send me a quick message at dean@sandean.com.