Protected bird's nest takes over South Carolina parking lot

March 31 (UPI) -- A utility company in South Carolina found a migratory bird nesting in a parking lot -- and the bird can't be moved due to federal law from 1918.

The Berkeley Electric Cooperative said an employee found a killdeer nest being tended by a mother bird in the company's parking lot, and officials soon found the nest could not be relocated due to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

The act bans U.S. property owners from relocating "protected migratory bird species without prior authorization by the Department of Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

The company decided to surround the killdeer nest with traffic cones to protect the mother and her eggs while waiting for the babies to hatch.

"It's just another way we're helping to keep the Lowcountry beautiful," the company said in a Facebook post.