“Look, everyone, that thing on the tree that looks like a little house is the ‘fully furnished apartment’ we built for the birds.” On the eve of “International Bird Day,” at the entrance of the Fanwan Lake National Wetland Park in Qianjiang City, Hubei Province, volunteers pointed to a high-up bird nest while explaining to children. Not far away, several grey herons were resting in the newly built safe nests, occasionally lowering their heads to preen their feathers or gently flapping their wings and calling out, looking perfectly content.
Spring has returned to the earth, with grass growing and orioles flying. Every year at this time, millions of migratory birds bid farewell to the mountains and rivers of Hubei to continue their journey north. As a crucial stopover on global migratory bird flyways, Hubei’s dense network of wetlands and waterways attracts rare and endangered birds like the Oriental White Stork, the Baer’s Pochard, and the Eurasian Spoonbill to rest, forage, and even breed here.
However, the crisscrossing network of power transmission lines, while serving as the “arteries” for economic and social development, also overlaps spatially with the migratory routes of birds. How can harmony between birds and the power grid be achieved?
Building safe nests for birds, installing bird guards on transmission towers, groups of volunteers are active year-round on the front lines of patrol, education, and rescue… From physical protection to guiding principles, the people of Hubei’s power grid are providing their own answer to bird conservation.
Since December 2021, the State Grid Hubei Electric Power Company has been implementing the “Migratory Bird Lifeline” project in Qianjiang. “We invited experts to educate frontline staff on bird identification and protection knowledge, built over 20 safe bird nests in trees around the lakeside in the wetland park, and regularly hold public benefit activities like science lectures, bird watching, and nest building to get more people involved in bird protection,” explained the project leader.
The shift from a single word—from “deterring” birds to “protecting” them—reflects a profound change in mindset: rather than passive prevention, it’s better to actively provide safe habitats for birds.
At the ±500 kV Linfeng Line in Shenji Town, Shayang County, Jingmen City, Hubei Province, power line maintenance personnel are installing bird guard plates on transmission towers. These plates are made from high-strength epoxy resin insulation boards, offering excellent insulating and corrosion-resistant properties. Fixed to the crossarm above the insulator strings or at tower corners, they effectively prevent bird droppings from contaminating electrical equipment while also blocking birds from direct contact with live lines. Based on tower distribution and bird activity patterns, the company plans to install these bird guard plates on over 2,000 ultra-high voltage transmission towers by June 30. A small plate becomes a gentle “buffer zone” between birds and electricity.
At the Baer’s Pochard Habitat Restoration Demonstration Site in Qijiawan, Huangpi District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, on a 433-acre water surface, special artificial nesting platforms float gently with the waves. The Baer’s Pochard is often called the “panda of the bird world,” and its biggest breeding obstacle is the rising water levels during the rainy season that flood and destroy nests.
“To solve this problem, we collaborated with the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Wuhan Bird Watching Society, the power supply company, and other units to jointly design a flood-proof ‘floating delivery room’,” explained a staff member from the Wuhan Wetland Protection Center.
The artificial nesting platforms use a floating board structure, anchored in the water with bamboo poles, allowing the nest body to rise and fall with the water level. The platform surface is covered with silt and planted with aquatic plants like water bamboo and calamus, providing shelter for the Baer’s Pochard while also offering convenient materials for nest-building. Before the rainy season arrived, nearly a hundred such “floating delivery rooms” had been set up in Qijiawan and Baoxie Lake, quietly awaiting their “distinguished guests.”
The story continues, from scientific bird protection to enduring guardianship.
The story of the State Grid Huangshi Power Supply Company’s Bird Protection Volunteer Service Team began ten years ago—that spring, grid line patroller Zheng Qingsong and his colleagues discovered three fledglings while performing maintenance on Tower No. 57 of the 220 kV Saini I & II Line in Haikou Village, Yangxin County, Huangshi City. Experts identified them as Oriental White Storks, a nationally protected first-class animal. Subsequently, they built a safe artificial nest for the fledglings at the top of the tower. For
