Electric Utility Operations

Line Life Podcast: Drone-Installed Bird Diverters on an Overhead River Crossing

July 21, 2023

Ameren Missouri installed high-visibility flight diverters on high-voltage transmission lines in Missouri to safeguard eagles and other large birds.

Amy Fischbach

Related To: Huskie Tools

Ameren Missouri recently installed high visibility flight diverters on distribution and high voltage transmission lines over Bagnell Dam in Missouri. With bald eagles flocking to the Lake of the Ozarks, the flight diverters help to prevent collisions with overhead lines.

In other parts of the service territory, lineworkers have installed covers, deterring not only eagles but also other large birds from striking multiple energized phases at the same time. Through its avian protection program, Ameren is not only protecting wildlife, but also the integrity of its distribution system.

For our July 2023 Line Life Podcast, which is sponsored by Huskie Tools, Field Editor Amy Fischbach has a conversation with Kurt Rakers, supervising engineer at Ameren Missouri, about how the utility used drones to install the bird diverters. To listen to the full episode, click on the icon below, and for more information, read the full story, Drone-Installed Bird Diverters Prevent Avian Collisions from our Electric Utility Operations section about the project.

Email us at [email protected] with your comments on this episode and suggestions for future guests. Be sure to follow The Line Life Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app to be notified when new episodes are available.

About the Author

Amy Fischbach | Amy Fischbach, EUO Contributing Editor

Amy Fischbach is the Field Editor for T&D World magazine and manages the Electric Utility Operations section. She is the host of the Line Life Podcast, which celebrates the grit, courage and inspirational teamwork of the line trade. She also works on the annual Lineworker Supplement and the Vegetation Management Supplement as well as the Lineman Life and Lineman's Rodeo News enewsletters. Amy also covers events such as the Trees & Utilities conference and the International Lineman's Rodeo. She is the past president of the ASBPE Educational Foundation and ASBPE and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Kansas State University. She can be reached at [email protected].