Why wouldn't the bird be hurt when it is standing on the wire?

There is no electricity flowing in the birds' bodies because they are standing on only one cable and their bodies are not in contact with another live wire, or anything connected to earth. Theoretically you can hang on to one live cable without being electrocuted. The moment one of your hands touches another live cable current will immediately flow through your body. To break the circuit many electricians wear non-conduvtive shoes, so that they are not 'grounded'. all the best, rosdimy

I asked a friend of mine the same question quite a few years ago. "The birds are not grounded" is what he told me.

The basic answer is the bird is not grounded. When you are standing on the ground with your kite, there exists a path for current to flow from the wires, which are held at a very high voltage, to the ground. Because the voltage is so high, even though the kite string is not a great conductor, current will flow and you will be electrocuted. Notice that if your kite string touched the insulated wire, very little current would flow (because the huge energy barrier resistance poses). Unprotected wires, e.g. ones knocked down in a storm, are extremely dangerous. Electrons flowing from high voltage to low voltage is analogous to objects falling from high elevation to low elevation. If an object can fall to a lower position - for instance, if you put a soccer ball on a hill - it will, releasing energy. Similarly, if an electron can flow from high voltage to low voltage, it will. Insulation is a barrier to that flow - for instance, if you put a soccer ball on a hill, but put a small fence around it. The ball wouldn't be able to roll through the fence. Notice that a bird forms a circuit. If the bird touched the wire in exactly one place (and was not grounded), even without insulation, the bird would not be electrocuted. However, the bird has two legs - it touches the wire twice. The bird is in parallel with a short (5 cm?) length of copper wire. However, since the wire has very, very low resistance, the vast majority of the current will flow through the wire and not the bird.

Assume you are the electricity traveling through the wire for the moment. Now, when you reach a leg of the bird, you have 2 options: a. Go straight with the wire b. Go upwards through the bird. You, as electricity, knows well ahead of time which way is smoother. In this case, going though the wire while may be a long way to go, but it is like a freeway. Going though the bird, however, is like entering a side-street which is of much more resistance. So, which way would you choose? Obviously, you would pick going straight on the wire and so, the electricity never run through the bird and therefore they are safe.

Electricity is often something quite mind-boggling. The mere way it performs often baffles even the most genius people. But after many upon many of years of research, We've accumulated a pretty advanced understanding of electricity. The bird has no current flowing through his body, merely because he is not touching the ground. Elecricity must always flow through things, It must have an entrance and a exit. In many cases though, you may still be hurt by electricity, Even if your not grounded. If you are near enough to something that is touching the ground, Then(depending on the strength)the electricity many "jump" from the object or floor, through you.