Animal House

As you can see from our masthead, we literally deal with birds on electrical wires everyday. Memphis is right in the middle of the Mississippi Flyway—a major bird migration corridor that is a narrow strip just a few miles east and west of the river.

There are two major flock onslaughts in the spring and fall. Electrical substations provide nesting places similar to tree canopies, which causes many birds to want to stop and stay awhile. Large stations usually have the same types of birds—-Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, House Finches, Rock Pigeons, Killdeers and an occasional Mockingbird or Northern Flicker.

Birds are not the only inhabitants of our substations. The warm areas, like the tops of power transformers and capacitor enclosures, attract raccoons and squirrels. Raccoons try to build dens in the underground systems so they can get bird eggs from nests in the substation superstructures. Squirrels typically use the structures as a high pathway to and from food sources – much like the way they move through trees. Domestic cats looking for bird snacks and an occasional snake also make their way into substations.

Unfortunately, by choosing to call a substation home, animals risk injury to themselves and others. The inadvertent contact or “bridging” of energized equipment can cause system outages and possible equipment damage. There is always the possibility of momentary or sustained safety breaches caused by these electrical faults.

Even a small bird can have a huge impact; the best example is the Monk Parakeet. These non-indigenous birds love to build their communal nests around warm transformers and have given other utilities fits. Some nests have been reported to be 10ft in diameter and weigh 150lbs. Substation engineers are constantly on the lookout for these little rascals. (Sometimes the animals combine forces to wreak havoc, like in New Mexico.)

Professional Engineers are to hold paramount the protection of people and property before all else. Substation Engineering is systematically analyzing and covering the secondary bushings on the power transformers, bushings on sectionalizing and feeder breakers, station service equipment, and key switches and capacitor bank structures at problematic substations. They try to achieve a balance between service, science, economics, and environment.