So you’re on a Tampa Electric line crew, responding to a call after a storm knocked a palm tree onto a power line. You hear something inside the dead tree – it sounds like baby birds crying out for help. What do you do next?
This crew didn’t let it stump them.
The crew – linemen Tim Hunt, Rob Mathews and Ralph Snearly and Apprentice Lineman Justin Williams – found the tree in Auburndale, Fla. on June 10. Things seemed normal at first, according to Snearly.
“We removed the tree from our conductor,” Snearly said. “But then this woodpecker flew down and landed where the tree broke. The bird was really agitated and making a lot of noise.”
The woodpecker took off and another sound remained, so Mathews peeked inside the stump where the tree had broken. Inside he found a nest of woodpecker chicks, exposed to the elements.
“We were worried about the birds not having a home,” Snearly said. “We knew we needed to do something.”
The crew cut off a portion of the fallen tree and, using duct tape, fashioned a roof for the nest. Before they left, the adult woodpecker came back to tend to her chicks.
She may not have thanked the line crew, but Jerry Adams did.
“This effort represents the best of what our team members bring to the areas we serve,” said Adams, coordinator of Environmental & Technical Training at the Skills Training Center. “Things that make the world a little better – this crew did it and for that, they deserve the community’s thanks.”
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