Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 07/02) - A technician with NorthwesTel was conducting a service call July 30 when he discovered some new residents in one of the company's aerial terminals.

Aerial terminals are the black boxes on the top of telephone poles.

The uninvited guests were a nest filled with baby birds, which may have been house sparrows or tree swallows. Unfortunately, the birds had also caused the problems the technician was there to fix.

"They had chewed through the wires," said Wes Brandvold, Yellowknife service manager with NorthwesTel.

So Brandvold placed a call to the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWL) about the birds.

"They told us to relocate the nest," he said.

But there was no way they could move the birds without destroying the nest, he said.

They decided to switch the broken line with another line to allow the birds to stay inside the aerial terminal.

According to CWL, the birds will be able to fly later in August and the nests will be empty.

When that happens Brandvold said the company will instal rubber end caps on all its aerial terminals.

The action will prevent damaged lines and protect birds from having to be relocated.

Currently the end caps are made of styrofoam, which birds can chew through.

Technicians discover nests in terminals all the time said Brandvold, but in this case the scenario was a little different as it was the first time baby birds were also found.