Birds sitting on power lines are one of the everyday scenes often taken for granted, ye one that brings endless fascination. When we see rows of birds on power lines, we often stare in wonderment. Why do birds like to perch on power lines? Why do they sit spaced evenly in a row? Did they get shocked? Why do they face the same direction?
Power lines are convenient and common rest stops for birds in cities and towns where there are very few trees. High-voltage wires make great lookout perches for passionate birds or the common perching birds like, sparrows, starlings, crows, grackles, to name a few. The feet of perching birds or songbirds are adapted to grabbing onto branches and power lines. Not all birds have this special adaptation.
Birds are social animals that like to interact with each other as they rest on power lines. Being high up gives the birds a good vantage point to see the surroundings and be on the look out with predators and food sources.
Birds can be seen at dusk or sunrise perched on overhead power lines. Every time a bird lands on the wire, the entire row of birds on the same wire would move over for the newcomer. Birds are instinctively such considerate and accommodating little creatures.
This high-voltage meeting appears to be an enormous flock of birds in the midst of migration, taking a short rest on power lines before heading on to their destination.
These bird formation on intersecting power lines almost seen staged and choreographed. Who would ever think that these little creatures would roost at every angle. Being bird brained is not necessarily a bad thing birds are smarter than most people think.
One theory is that birds space themselves evenly along power lines so that there is enough room to land and take off from the wire. This mandated a certain distance from the wings to spread during take off. But again, the bird can jump and then spread its wings. The other theory is that keeping a certain distance from each other avoid aggression and conflict.
Thousands of raptors are killed every year due to power lines, particularly in the western U.S. In wide open plains and deserts, power poles are often the only high perches available for hunters like bald and golden eagles and great horned owls, who survey the landscape for prey and take off into rising wing currents. Electric shock occurs when their wings brush against a two live wires when settling on top of a grounded pole.
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