Power lines offer excellent visibility for flocks of small birds.
Throughout the world, birds increasingly have made use of power lines as perching points due to the clearing of wooded habitats to make way for humans. For small species such as martins and starlings, who line them in the hundreds, the wires might appear to be perfect tree substitutes. As well as keeping the birds safe from ground predators, they provide a lookout for avian threats and an ideal vantage point to spot potential food. How are they not electrocuted?
Electrically Charged
As the bird makes contact with the wire, its body becomes charged; however, because the body is a weak conductor, no current will flow through it. This means the electrical circuit is incomplete and the bird is unharmed. If the bird touches a stronger conductor, such as another wire or the grounding point, at the same time, it completes the circuit and will be electrocuted. This is not common with small birds but an increasing concern for larger species.
Observation Advantages
In the wide expanses of plain and desert in western North America, power poles allow large raptors to observe the landscape from on high. According to the Edison Electric Institute, this makes them good hunting and roosting platforms, which in turn impels the birds to base their territories around the poles. The institute names golden eagles and red-tailed hawks as two species most susceptible to electrocution.
Risk
Large raptors, herons, cranes and even crows have wide enough wingspans to contact two wires at once while taking off, creating the circuit that instantly electrocutes them. This proves deadly to the fragile birds, melting the beak or feet or causing feathers to inflame. Cables have become a growing hazard for eagles and hawks especially, which in some areas have began nesting on the steel towers connecting power lines.
Collision Risk
Aside from the potential for electrocution while perching on power lines, many large birds suffer the same fate by colliding with the wires during flight. This is a more common occurrence among juvenile raptors, who lack the adults' flight control, but it also has been observed of swans in the United Kingdom and fast flying ducks whose individual maneuverability is hampered by large flock numbers.
Prevention/Solution
Widening the gap between conducting and ground wires and increasing their distance from the pole top would significantly reduce the threat to birds. Reconfigurations can be made to pole structures to discourage birds from perching in dangerous areas, such as the placing of guards where raptors are known to roost. Most telephone cables have insulation, which increases safety, while power lines generally do not. Collisions could be reduced through installing visible marker buoys on wires.
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