“Raptor electrocution is a particularly tenacious problem in the West and Southwest, where open landscapes make powerlines the most dominant and attractive feature on which birds choose to alight. It is tough to quantify the exact number of birds killed this way every year; many are scavenged immediately by other predators, and while U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents are able to investigate some of the cases that occur, they can’t possibly count them all due to the sheer magnitude….

The good news is that cost-effective technology is now available to make electrical equipment bird-friendly. Beginning in the mid 1970s, law enforcement agents in the Mountain-Prairie Region began an effort to work in partnership with power companies to identify and repair equipment that killed raptors.

There is no boilerplate solution. Increasing the distance between lines, installing insulation on wires and transponders, and providing perches away from wires are only three in an options cornucopia developed by private-sector engineers.”