Spring must not be too far away because the hawks are back at it building nests again. Our local farmers are pretty good at calling in a letting us know about any nests being made on our power poles. When the birds start nesting the farmers start watering. So if a nest causes a power outage or even a fire that burn the top of the pole off, then no water for the farmer. Granted a few hours isn’t a huge deal but these farmers want to get as much water in the ground as they can before the 100 F heat rolls in.
Received a call from a local farmer about a nest on a power pole the other day. My first thought was, “And So It Begins!! Another Year of The Epic Battle of Lineman Vs Nesting Birds!”
I can’t believe this big ol’ nest didn’t cause a power outage or fire. Twigs and sticks were laying all over the energized jumper wires for the transformers. Then I remember this section of line is 7,200 volts and not our normal 14,400 volts. Wood is an insulator as long as it is dry. Add some rain to this mess of a nest and I am pretty sure some fuses would have blown or a fire started.
This nest has got to be one of the sloppiest, trashiest nests I have seen. Must have been built by an apprentice nest builder that didn’t listen to the journeyman nest builder. It looks as though it had some sort of collapse on the right side.
Was this hawk trying to build a nest for 4? Normally the nest rests on top of the 2 wood arms and against the pole. It’s a prime nesting spot which we have been trying to eliminate over the years. What we do is remove the 2 wood arms that hood the cutouts/fuses and replace them with a single fiberglass arm. Why they thought they needed 2 arms to hold the cutouts/fuses is beyond me.
The animal kingdom is pretty ruthless to say the least. Some kill their mate after doing the naughty and I guess when when comes to hawks, building a shitty nest is punishable by death also…
I think it went down like this… After Heather Hawk spent the afternoon hunting field mice and gophers, she arrived home to relax in her comfy nest. Know-it-all Henry Hawk put his DIY skills to the test. He told her she would have the Rolls Royce of nests when she got back with a bell full of rodents.
Henry had been hitting the fermented fruit pretty hard that morning and lost track of time. Not knowing how quickly Heather Hawk would be back wanting a place to rest her wings, he piled up a bunch of twigs and roots and called it a nest. Henry Hawk then passed out on the right side of the nest.
With her great eyesight, Heather Hawk saw him sprawled out on what he thought was a nest. “That worthless drunk POS!!” Full of rage, tired and a full belly she went into attack mode. She dive bombed his ass, smashing him through his garbage of a nest and into the energized wires killing him and destroying the nest. Then she flew off and found another mate that was well known for being a master nest builder.
Henry was a hack of a nest builder but his well manicured talons is what always brought in the ladies.
2 poles away I could see Heather Hawk hanging out with Harry Hawk. As I was destroying what was left of the nest, they sat there waiting for me to leave. Once I am gone those 2 are gonna rebuild a nest in the same spot, I guarantee it. So I’m going to have to come back by next week and probably destroy a nest again. The springtime battle of Lineman vs Nesting Birds rages on.
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