E.ON awaits storks with 3200 nest preparations
- As the electricity grid operator in the Dunántúl, Budapest and Pest county, around some landfills the company has buried power lines and is also installing new nests
- New nesting boxes for kestrels and hawks have been fixed to high-voltage poles
- Last year the company helped with the collaring of 548 stork chicks
E.ON Hungária Group has made preparations for the return of the storks to Hungary.
The company plans to render more than 250 poles bird-friendly this year, with some of the work to be completed before the storks arrive. The poles will be fitted with bird-friendly covers, long insulators and bird perches, all implemented towards the safety of the birds.
The energy provider will help stork breeding through installation of new nesting boxes on utility poles, with more than 100 to be installed this year. Nests damaged in storms will be rebuilt, while those that weigh over 100kg and are in danger of falling over will be pared down in weight by conservationists. This year, more than 3,200 nesting sites await stork pairs on E.ON’s power grids in the Dunántúl and Pest county.
Cabling and new nests at landfills
Landfills around large cities are frequented by storks in search of food. To ensure their safety, in 2023 E.ON embedded its cables underground at the Kaposvár and Bagola landfills, and did the same last year at a landfill known to have the largest population of storks, Pusztazámor. This year the company will carry out renovations and install new nests in the vicinity of the Paks-, Szombathely- and Körmend landfills, among others.
Birds of prey on power infrastructure
The Saker Falcon, named the bird of the year in 2024, raised a record number of chicks in Hungary last year, with 530 falcon chicks having left the nest across the country. Falcons and kestrels do not build their own nests, occupying other birds’ nests instead, so E.ON is helping their annual breeding season this year with more artificial nesting boxes. There are already 120 safe artificial nests available to them on high-voltage pylons.
E.ON’s intervention in the vicinity of abandoned nests takes place during the autumn-winter months, when most nest construction, repair and bird-friendly network modifications take place. Nest relocations are always carried out after consulting with the National Parks’ bird conservationists.
E.ON Hungária Group’s financial commitment to bird protection measures this year, solely financed by the energy company, totals several hundred million forints.
