WOW.

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