Question: Why Don't Birds Get Electrocuted When They Land on Electric Wires?

Rosie Goodburn answered on 19 Apr 2021:

Hi Oliver,
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Imagine that electricity in the wire is like water flowing through a pipe. The electricity, like the water, flows through the wire using the easiest path possible. Electrical power lines are excellent conductors of electricity but the bird’s body is not by comparison.
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Wires are made of copper which is an excellent conductor of electricity in that it allows electricity to flow easily along its surface. Birds are made of tissues, bones, and feathers. These materials do not provide the electricity in the wire with an easier route to travel than the copper it is already in. So the electricity ignores the bird on the wire and continues to travel along the wire to its destination.
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However! birds will not be safe if they touch the wire and certain other objects at the same time. If the second object is a second wire carrying another voltage, the voltage difference causes an electrical current to flow through the bird between the two wires 🙁 Think of “voltage” here like water pressure in our water-in-a-pipe picture!
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Electricity travels from a place of high voltage to low voltage, just like water would go from high pressure to low pressure.
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A bird that touches a wire and also touches a grounded metal object (a place with no voltage) creates a path that allows the electricity to travel through the bird and into the place with no voltage. If this were to happen, the bird could die of electrocution!