Happy Ending

Photo by Ned Harris 12/11/2013

Mark Hengesbaugh writes: 

On Dec. 11, we found a dead Peregrine Falcon (photo above) below a power pole on the border of Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. There was no visual cue that the falcon had been electrocuted, but we reached out to Tucson Electric Power and explained what we found. The day after our report, a company representative wrote orders to modify poles to protect raptors a recommended distance along Remount Dr. and N. Sabino Canyon Rd. past the entrance to the visitor center parking lot.

Photo by Mark Hengesbaugh  1/28/2014

Photo by Fred Heath 1/28/2014

Photo by Ned Harris 1/29/2014

Photo by Fred Heath, with arrows added to point out the raptor protection

On January 28th and 29th, raptor protection was installed on the power lines on the southern and western borders of the Sabino Canyon recreation area. 

Mr. Larry Weigel of Tucson Electric Power responded to Mark Hengesbaugh's thank you e-mail: 

TEP takes pride in our robust raptor protection program and we rely on community members like yourself to partner with us to report raptor activity or unfortunate incidents involving our facilities.
It appears from the pictures that you’ve had a chance to interact with Sturgeon Linemen, who provide a significant amount of support to the program as well. As you may have gathered from talking with them, linemen are also very passionate about protecting these birds.
Thank you for your help with this location and for the volunteer work you do at Tucson’s lovely Sabino Canyon.

Huge thanks to Tucson Electric Power and the Sturgeon Linemen for getting the job done!
And many thanks to Jean and Mark Hengesbaugh, Peggy Wenrick, Fred Heath, Ned Harris, and Matt Ball for their contributions to this story.