Protection of oriental white storks living alongside power transmission lines in Jiangxi receives significant boost

While patrolling power transmission lines, staff members from the Jiangxi subsidiary of the State Grid came across a pair of oriental white storks building a nest in preparation for raising their chicks, the nest being located on top of a high-voltage transmission tower in Qianfang village, Xinjian district, Nanchang city, east China’s Jiangxi Province.

A pair of oriental white storks build a nest on top of a high-voltage transmission tower in Qianfang village, Xinjian district, Nanchang city, east China’s Jiangxi Province, in preparation for raising their new hatchlings. (Photo/Fan Kuan)

An oriental white stork takes care of its chicks on top of a high-voltage transmission tower in Qianfang village, Xinjian district, Nanchang city, east China’s Jiangxi Province. (Photo/Fan Kuan)

An oriental white stork takes care of its chicks on top of a high-voltage transmission tower in Qianfang village, Xinjian district, Nanchang city, east China’s Jiangxi Province. (Photo/Fan Kuan)

Jiangxi Province is home to a large variety of different species of birds, including oriental white storks and other birds that are under key state protection. However, with an increasingly larger number of birds now active in the vicinity of the power transmission lines, some of these birds have indirectly contributed to a higher frequency of transmission line failures.

To better protect the local ecological environment and to further enhance a charity program dedicated to protecting migratory birds and their habitats, the Jiangxi subsidiary of the State Grid, together with the Administration of Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve in addition to other specialized institutions and charitable organizations, established an alliance called “Loving Birds and Protecting Power Transmission Lines” to jointly carry out research on rare birds and monitor their populations.

Volunteers taking part in a bird protection project reinforce the nest of oriental white storks on top of a high-voltage transmission tower in Qianfang village, Xinjian district, Nanchang city, east China’s Jiangxi Province. (Photo/Fan Kuan)

A volunteer taking part in a bird protection project installs a protection signboard under the nest of oriental white storks on top of a high-voltage transmission tower in Qianfang village, Xinjian district, Nanchang city, east China’s Jiangxi Province. (Photo/Fan Kuan)

Over the past five years, the Jiangxi subsidiary of the State Grid has invested more than 46 million yuan ($7.23 million) to carry out protection and maintenance activities along a total of 708 power transmission lines, helping reduce 73 percent of the power transmission outages associated with birds and significantly lowering incidences of mortality and injuries to birds. So far, the number of oriental white storks living in Jiangxi Province has exceeded 7,000 birds in all.