![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
04-07-2022, 08:52 AM
By Carolyn Wilke
June 29, 2022
A variety of triggers can kindle wildfires on dry lands: high winds that send power lines careening into each other, stray cigarette butts, even sparks from train wheels. And, sometimes, electrocuted birds.
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Such electrocutions typically occur in places with few trees, where bigger bird species may perch or nest on utility poles,
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A bird can rest on one wire with no problem. But touching two wires simultaneously or touching one wire and a piece of grounded equipment, such as a transformer, can cause trouble.
“When electrocutions happen, it’s not unusual for the water in the animal cells to be instantly turned to steam,” said James Dwyer, a wildlife biologist also at E.D.M. International and a co-author of the paper. “It explodes the cells, and it’ll blow off a limb.”
Sometimes, the bird’s plumage ignites, and it may be left suffering on the ground.
......
Power lines pose threats to birds all over the world
......
By one estimate, around 10 million birds may die by electrocution each year in the United States alone, and even more die from collisions with electrical infrastructure.
Occasionally, a rare bird-caused inferno leads to human deaths, too. A 2014 fire in Valparaíso, Chile, burned thousands of homes and killed 15 people.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/scien...fires.html
June 29, 2022
A variety of triggers can kindle wildfires on dry lands: high winds that send power lines careening into each other, stray cigarette butts, even sparks from train wheels. And, sometimes, electrocuted birds.
......
Such electrocutions typically occur in places with few trees, where bigger bird species may perch or nest on utility poles,
......
A bird can rest on one wire with no problem. But touching two wires simultaneously or touching one wire and a piece of grounded equipment, such as a transformer, can cause trouble.
“When electrocutions happen, it’s not unusual for the water in the animal cells to be instantly turned to steam,” said James Dwyer, a wildlife biologist also at E.D.M. International and a co-author of the paper. “It explodes the cells, and it’ll blow off a limb.”
Sometimes, the bird’s plumage ignites, and it may be left suffering on the ground.
......
Power lines pose threats to birds all over the world
......
By one estimate, around 10 million birds may die by electrocution each year in the United States alone, and even more die from collisions with electrical infrastructure.
Occasionally, a rare bird-caused inferno leads to human deaths, too. A 2014 fire in Valparaíso, Chile, burned thousands of homes and killed 15 people.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/scien...fires.html
