Safe Nesting Sites: 3,300 Nests Await Storks on E.ON’s Network

From autumn to spring, E.ON works in close cooperation with nature conservation experts from the country’s national parks to prepare for the arrival of storks. As the network operator in Transdanubia, Pest County and Budapest, E.ON plans to retrofit more than 250 electricity poles, rendering them bird-friendly. Most of this work will be completed before the storks return to Hungary. The operation entails installation of bird-friendly covers, long insulators and bird perches on the poles. Electrical connections will also be replaced to ensure bird safety.

Stork nesting will be facilitated by sturdy nest supports, 70 of which will be installed this year. Nests damaged in storms will be rebuilt, and those which are too heavy and at risk of collapsing will be thinned: 80 stork nests are set for renovation. Part of the work involves conservationists replacing branches intended for nest building on new nest supports, to make them more attractive for storks. A key aim of E.ON’s conservationist interventions is to make the power line network more bird friendly at several open waste sites in Transdanubia (e.g., near Tatabánya and Győr), as these are popular feeding grounds for storks. E.ON – with its cherry picker trucks and experts – also plays an active role in banding stork chicks in Transdanubia.

As a result of the scheduled conservation activities, this year 3,300 safe, new or reinforced nesting sites await stork pairs across E.ON’s entire power grid.