FOR THE BIRDS

Power outages blamed on migration.

Experiencing problems with your power in McGregor? Don’t blame us, says Hydro One — blame the clumsy feet of birds.

According to the government-owned electricity company, a rash of recent power interruptions in the McGregor area has been traced to birds flocking and roosting on overhead wires.

Tiziana Baccega Rosa, a spokeswoman for Hydro One, said that birds perched on the lines are safe as long as they keep both feet on the wire.

A fatal scenario happens “when they have one foot on the wire and another foot touching a metal part,” she said.

“That could be an arrestor, a switch, or a crossarm — those are pieces that you see coming off the top of poles.”

The resultant surge is invariably deadly for the bird, and problematic for the flow of electricity on the wire.

Baccega Rosa said Hydro One sent crews to patrol the area last week after receiving customer complaints of flickering power.

Although the sight of birds on a power line is nothing new, Baccega Rose said that “in this case, we have photos of many of them stopping on a line. It looks like it’s on their migration route.”

According to Hydro One, certain wires have become so crowded that the birds are in contact with each other when they sit side-by-side.

“If one of them touches a piece of equipment, the electricity will translate through that bird and into the next bird,” Baccega Rosa said.

Baccega Rosa said Hydro One estimates the “animal interference” has affected about 2,400 customers.

Asked what specific type of bird is being zapped, Baccega Rosa said her reports only describe it as a “small black bird.”

“I don’t know exactly what the name of it is,” she confessed.

Baccega Rosa said Hydro One is now looking into “mitigation options.”

Crews have increased their patrols and re- checked the equipment.

“Different areas have different needs, so there are different solutions. There’s no one solution that works for every area,” Baccega Rosa said.

She added that the fact there are birds landing on the lines is not necessarily the problem. “It’s the volume of them stopping there that is creating the situation.”

But some local wildlife experts aren’t convinced by Hydro One’s explanation.

“I think it’s ludicrous,” said Nancy Phillips, bird specialist at the Wings Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Amherstburg.

Phillips said the “small black bird” described by Hydro One is likely a starling.

According to Phillips, local starlings don’t migrate, but are known to flock together on a seasonal basis — which begs the question why Hydro One hasn’t encountered the problem many times in the past.

“It doesn’t make much sense, does it? Why would it just be happening now?” Phillips said.

However, Phillips agrees that more starlings gather together in the fall than at other times of the year. “They just like to hang out. They have little bird parties once in a while.”

“It’s really bad, isn’t it?” she added. “We can’t live with sparrows or starlings. We can’t live with skunks. We can’t live with this or that.”

Baccega Rosa said Hydro One’s records indicate there were similar power issues in McGregor around this time last year, but she hasn’t checked further back to see if it’s part of a trend.

Phillips said she lives one concession road from McGregor, and she has a sisterin-law and several friends living in the area as well.

She said no one she knows has noticed an abundance of electrocuted birds.

If there truly is a problem, Phillips said Hydro One might want to put up a sign for the birds: “Use two feet,” she joked.