Prescott
HS Students Build Wooden Platforms to Help Ferruginous Hawks.
For
many years, Dr. Jim Watson from the Washington State Department
of Fish and Wildlife has been doing research on the migration
and winter ranges of ferruginous hawks that breed on the Hanford
reservation.
During
those years, he noticed a need to provide a better nesting site
for the hawks that are occupying Bonneville Power Administration
transmission towers. The nests, in their current location, are
easily blown out of the tower during windstorms. When this occurs,
the ferruginous hawk's young would then be lost for the season.
With this in mind, Dr. Watson contacted Bill Erickson, Natural
Resource Specialist, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), at
the Walla Walla Regional Office for assistance.
At
BPA's request, and with some help with supplies, Prescott High
School students Arturo Iglesias
and Adrian Espinoza
built two platforms that were installed on the two separate
towers by Stefan Schildt, Gary Farran, and Fred
Hassel, BPA linemen from the Pasco Transmission Line Maintenance
crew. The installation was completed on January 29, 2003.
These
platforms are one-meter in diameter and have ¾ inch dowels around
the edge to help prevent the nest from blowing away during a storm.
After installing the platforms, the linemen "seeded" them with
sagebrush branches to make the platform an inviting site for the
hawks to nest and hopefully have a permanent home.
The
ferruginous hawk is a picky bird and are only using a particular
230 kV transmission tower for nesting. Traditionally, the hawks
nest in the rocky cliff along the Columbia River. During the 1960's,
however, the hawks moved inland on the Hanford Reservation when
the 230 kV towers were built. The hawks only build nests in the
lower part of the tower atop the lower cross-members. These nests
are 2-3 feet in diameter and are made with interwoven sagebrush
stems.
Nine
pairs of these hawks are currently using BPA transmission towers
on the Hanford site. These nine pairs made up 18% of the active
nesting population in the year 2002. These hawks, a Washington
State sensitive species, are the largest soaring hawks in the
United States. It was reported just a few days after installation,
a BPA linemen had spotted a hawk using one of the new platform
nests. "We had a lot of fun, and learned a lot about the hawks.
It was a good experience," Espinoza said. "It felt good to help
the birds out," Iglesias stated.
Paul
Counts, Prescott power connections.
