Yesterday the sky above my home in Pecatonica, Illinois was a flurry of helicopter activity, but we couldn't figure out what exactly was going on. In fact, many of the Pecatonica community Facebook groups were alive with residents asking questions like, "what the heck is flying in the sky?" or "what are these helicopters working on?"

I apologize for the blurriness of this photo, but this is the view we had above our home on Monday...

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My family was fascinated by what we were seeing in the sky, (so fascinated in fact we neglected to take a video of it), but after watching these helicopters work for a while I said; "I think that helicopter is towing a huge, long saw!". My husband promptly told me I was crazy, so now I would like to show for the record that I was absolutely correct. (I'll sit here and wait for your public apology, Spencer).

Did You See the Aerial Saws Flying Over Northern Illinois Yesterday?

After doing some quick research yesterday, I came across this post from ComEd...

As I said, my family did not get a close-up view of the aerial saw action, but this is basically how they work...

Now, I've never flown anything in my life, but I have to imagine it takes incredible talent and precision to do this and NOT cut through power lines while you're at it. ComEd says this is an efficient way to trim tall, large masses of trees that exist around power lines, but I can't help but wonder, do they then hire a ground crew to clean all the trimmings up? I have yet to find that answer...

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