Crispy fried birds?

[furryman]

Why aren't birds electricuted when they land on electric lines?

[mongrel_8]

IIRC, it is because they aren't grounded to anything.

[bare]

Large birds are often electrocuted when their wings contact two lines at the same time. Electrocution is a major cause of the California Condor's demise.

[tracer]

Demise? I thought the California Condor was only Endangered, not out-and-out Extinct.

[samclem]

Sidebar: Upon release into the wild, condors raised in propagation facilities sometimes show behavior threatening to their survival. In a sense, they no longer know how to act as wild animals. The greatest threats these birds face in the environment are people and their structures--specifically, power lines and poles. Condor releases in California during the early 1990's were hampered by an electrocution and four collisions with power lines. Early in 1995, a program to teach condors to avoid power poles was initiated at the Los Angeles Zoo. Power pole aversion training was accomplished by constructing an electrified mock power pole in the large flight pen holding young condors scheduled for release to the wild. This pole was designed to give the condors that landed on it a mild but uncomfortable electrical shock. Natural tree snags were placed in the flight pen to reward the condors that perched on them with a positive experience--no shock. To date, the aversion training appears to have been a big success.
From here (http://endangered.fws.gov/esb/96/condors.html)

[bare]

Originally posted by tracer
Demise? I thought the California Condor was only Endangered, not out-and-out Extinct.

You are exactly right tracer. What I meant was demise of individuals, not the species. My comment was poorly worded.