![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thewayneWOW.
So here's the thing. A bird sitting on a high voltage power line is perfectly safe, because the bird is not touching ground. But birds get into other parts of the transmission grid where they can come into contact with both the high voltage side AND the ground (in this case, electrical ground, not the physical ground) and they literally burst into flames and are electrocuted and sometimes die.
And then they fall to the physical ground. And sometimes land in dry brush, and that sometimes causes a wild fire!
Very interesting: "On July 13, a fire in Colorado’s Arapahoe County that destroyed a home and a dozen outbuildings appeared to be caused by one such flaming avian. The Denver Post reported that more than 1,100 acres were burned in the blaze. Barnes said one possible reason the bird burst into flames was that it was looking for a snack inside an arrester cap.
“Sometimes what can happen is insects can get inside that cap,” he told 9News. “That attracts birds. Birds like to eat insects, in particular woodpeckers and crows, so something like that could have sat on the jumper wire and pecked into that arrester cap trying to get to the insects, making contact with the energized components and then causing it to catch fire.”"
That makes sense! It is probably not possible to make the arrester cap insect-proof, though I expect there are people trying.
https://gizmodo.com/electrocuted-birds-are-bursting-into-flames-and-starting-wildfires-2000495354
So here's the thing. A bird sitting on a high voltage power line is perfectly safe, because the bird is not touching ground. But birds get into other parts of the transmission grid where they can come into contact with both the high voltage side AND the ground (in this case, electrical ground, not the physical ground) and they literally burst into flames and are electrocuted and sometimes die.
And then they fall to the physical ground. And sometimes land in dry brush, and that sometimes causes a wild fire!
Very interesting: "On July 13, a fire in Colorado’s Arapahoe County that destroyed a home and a dozen outbuildings appeared to be caused by one such flaming avian. The Denver Post reported that more than 1,100 acres were burned in the blaze. Barnes said one possible reason the bird burst into flames was that it was looking for a snack inside an arrester cap.
“Sometimes what can happen is insects can get inside that cap,” he told 9News. “That attracts birds. Birds like to eat insects, in particular woodpeckers and crows, so something like that could have sat on the jumper wire and pecked into that arrester cap trying to get to the insects, making contact with the energized components and then causing it to catch fire.”"
That makes sense! It is probably not possible to make the arrester cap insect-proof, though I expect there are people trying.
https://gizmodo.com/electrocuted-birds-are-bursting-into-flames-and-starting-wildfires-2000495354
no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 08:20 pm (UTC)Easily done! And who can forget Admiral Grace Murray Harper's moth!
no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 09:05 pm (UTC)I guess one can't forget what one hadn't heard of. I could look it up, but I'll go with something even better and ask you.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 03:04 am (UTC)Posted to WS's reply. I figured you'd heard of the first computer bug, Ace!
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 02:58 am (UTC)Oh! She found the first computer bug! A moth flew into a literal main 'frame', shorted out two circuits, causing a crash. Upon inspection they eventually found the fried moth, taped it into the nightly log book, and it became the first computer bug!
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 11:14 am (UTC)Ha! Now that you’re reminding me, I vaguely do recall that story. I believe that is the origin of using the term bug for a computer glitch.
Not sure if ADM Hopper then started using the term deliberately, but she did have an amazing dry sense of humor.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 09:04 pm (UTC)Kind of like kamikaze revenge by the birds, "okay, you build power lines that electrocute me, and I burn down your township."
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 02:57 am (UTC)Heh.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 11:35 pm (UTC)Hugs, Jon
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 04:13 pm (UTC)I’d hate to get into a fight with the birds that don’t!!
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 05:05 pm (UTC)Well, as the article says, they're dead or dying as they fall. But the one that did survive? His name is Bubba. You absolutely do not want to mess with him!
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 11:53 pm (UTC)