State Grid power line inspector carries teenage passion for nature into career

At the Heihe Wetland in Zhangye, Northwest China's Gansu province, Shen Yang has walked the same transmission line patrol routes for 25 years.

The circuit stretches roughly 20 kilometers across reed beds, riverbanks and open wetlands. For most of his career, the job meant checking towers, inspecting conductors and ensuring the safe operation of the grid.

But over time, something else began to share that route with him.

"I've always liked birds since I was a teenager," said Shen, a 56-year-old transmission line inspector with State Grid Gansu Electric Power Co.

That early interest gradually merged with his daily work. Today, Shen is not only a line inspector but also an informal field observer of the wildlife living alongside the grid.

"On patrol, I often see kestrels, doves and magpies," he said. "If I'm lucky, I might also see peregrine falcons or golden eagles."

He keeps mental and sometimes written records of what he sees along the line corridor.

Zhangye's Heihe Wetland sits along a key migratory flyway, where more than 240 bird species have been recorded up to 2023, including black storks, golden eagles and swans. Transmission towers here are no longer seen only as infrastructure, but as part of a shared landscape.

The black stork has left a lasting impression on Shen. The nationally protected species is the "panda of birds", he said.

Shen is often seen observing the species through a high-powered telescope, recording its movements in detail in his field notes.

His connection to wildlife became more direct in November 2020, during a routine patrol near the wetland. Shen encountered an injured kestrel and contacted a wildlife rescue station in Zhangye, helping transport it for treatment.

He visited the bird repeatedly during its recovery, bringing food and monitoring its condition. Over time, the kestrel grew more comfortable, even resting briefly on his shoulder. "At that moment, I felt both excited and a strong sense of achievement," said Shen.

When it fully recovered, it was released back into the wild. He still remembers the moment clearly, not as an isolated incident, but as part of what his work had quietly become.

In recent years, Shen and his colleagues have helped rescue and raise 53 young birds, often in cooperation with local wildlife stations.

This change is also visible in field practice. In high-risk corridors, workers have installed artificial nests and bird-friendly facilities, transforming transmission towers into safer nesting spaces. In Zhangye alone, around 140 artificial nests have been installed, along with thousands of protective devices designed to reduce bird-related risks to the grid.

"For nests in particularly sensitive locations, we now use a combination of artificial relocation and 'migratory bird stations' to preserve birds' natural living environment as much as possible," said Shen.

The shift is not unique to Zhangye.

In the Ziwuling Forest of Qingyang in eastern Gansu, gray herons nest along forested riverbanks near transmission lines. Their presence is managed through coordination between forestry departments and power crews.

Young patrol workers are trained to identify protected species before entering work sites, while senior inspectors adjust patrol routes during breeding seasons to avoid disturbance.

"We used to focus on keeping birds away from the lines," Shen said. "Now we think about how to protect both."

Even when the wetlands fall silent in winter, Shen continues his rounds.

"Sometimes there are no birds," he said. "But I still go and look."

After 25 years on the same route, the transmission lines remain his responsibility. But so, increasingly, do the birds above them.