1848
4, OCTOBER 2004
Preventive Measures to Reduce Bird Related Power
Outages—Part II: Streamers and Contamination
R. Sundararajan (Chair), Member, IEEE, J. Burnham, R. Carlton, E. A. Cherney, G. Couret, K. T. Eldridge,
M. Farzaneh, S. D. Frazier, R. S. Gorur (Working Group Chair), R. Harness, D. Shaffner, S. Siegel, and J. Varner
Abstract—Bird related outages are more common and wide-
spread than generally believed. The objective of this paper is to
review the existing bird related problems and to recommend prac-
tices and procedures that are successful in reducing bird related
outages on transmission lines, in substations and on overhead
distribution lines. Experience has shown that use of perch guards,
metal or plastic spikes, insulating caps, alternate perch sites and
washing have significantly reduced bird related streamer and
contamination outages.
Index Terms—Birds, contamination outages, distribution lines,
mitigation measures, nesting outages, power outages, streamer out-
ages, substations, transmission lines.
I. INTRODUCTION
B IRDS have in common the habits of roosting and flocking
that bring them into contact with the overhead power
system. Their presence typically causes three major types of
power outages; namely due to electrocution and collision with
overhead conductors, which has been covered in Part I of the
paper [1], and due to streamers and insulator contamination.
Additionally, woodpeckers destroy wood poles causing struc-
tural failures and parakeets destroy the housings of polymer
insulators. Birds also indirectly cause a number of animal
related outages, particularly in stations, by attracting predators
like cats, raccoons, and snakes. The problems caused by birds
are more common and widespread than generally thought,
affecting power system reliability by causing major power
outages costing millions of dollars every year [2]–[4]. On
distribution lines, birds are responsible for nearly 25% of all
outages in the United States.
The most pervasive problems with large birds are the outages
they cause with their excrement. When large birds take flight
from a perch on an overhead structure, they will often empty
their bowels. These streams flowing back to their perch, called
“streamers” create a conductive path bridging partially or totally
the gap between the structure and the high voltage conductors
that can result in a flashover and an outage.
Occasionally, the bird is caught, either fatally, or wounded
in the flashover. But this is not always the case, which makes
bird outage cause detection difficult. Outages caused by the long
streams of stringy, conductive, and semi-liquid excrement are
called “streamer outages.”
Manuscript received February 28, 2003. Paper no. TPWRD-00088-2003.
A Position Paper Prepared by the IEEE Task Force on Reducing Bird Related
Power Outages, Insulator Contamination Working Group of the Transmission
and Distribution Committee.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2003.822522
0885-8977/04$20.00 © 2004 IEEE
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 19, NO.
Bird contamination flashover occurs due to the accumulation
of bird droppings. Many times this might also be due to birds
building nests in the gaps and on the structures in the substa-
tions. A 1990 IEEE survey reported that 86% of the responded
utilities have indicated that birds caused major problems in sub-
stations, second only to squirrels (90%) [5]. Nesting causes out-
ages in other ways also, such as dropping nest materials causing
shorts, by contacting live conductors while flying in and out
of the nest and by attracting predators and animals or bringing
large prey items to the nest which bridge insulators.
Despite the importance of streamer and contamination out-
ages, there is very little published information available on miti-
gation techniques and their effectiveness. General discussions of
the above aspects in the insulator contamination working group
meetings led to the formation of this task force with the objec-
tive of providing utilities a summary of recommended practices
and procedures to mitigate bird related outages. Thus, the basic
objectives of this paper are: to provide an awareness of the prob-
lems caused by birds on the overhead system, and to recommend
methods and procedures that are successful in mitigating bird
related outages.
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF STREAMER OUTAGES
Streamer outages are an old problem that is more common
on transmission lines than on distribution lines. The idea of bird
streamers to account for unexplained outages was first put forth
by California Edison during the 1920s [6]. During the period,
laboratory experiments were conducted with bird excrement to
demonstrate the likelihood of flashover, and field trials on var-
ious types of guards that were installed to prevent streamers
from polluting insulators. Since the first observations and field
trials, many utilities reported similar problems and on devices
used to mitigate the problem [7]–[10]. Following outages on
500 kV line insulators that were traced to bird streamers, full
scale experiments were done in 1970 by the Bonneville Power
Association (BPA) to elucidate the mechanism of flashover [8].
BPA was also involved with several other utilities in an inves-
tigation on unexplained transmission line outages in the mid
1980s [11]. The study specifically looked at the streamer theory
and concluded that although the streamers were not a major con-
tributor to the outages, the possibility of some minor contribu-
tion cannot be ruled out. However, Florida Power and Light has
experienced a large number of bird streamer outages on their
transmission lines since 1977 [9]. Similar outages have also
been identified in South Africa [10].
SUNDARARAJAN et al.: PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO REDUCE BIRD RELATED POWER OUTAGES, PART II—STREAMERS AND CONTAMINATION 1849

Fig. 1. Time of bird streamer outages for one utility.

Fig. 2. Bird excreta on a porcelain post insulator.

In general, very large birds, such as raptors cause streamer
outages. Raptors include hawks, owls, eagles, ospreys, and vul-
tures. Streamer outages have also been caused by herons, cranes,
and other large nonraptorial birds. Streamer outages in Florida,
Nevada, California, and South Africa have been found to exhibit
certain characteristics or follow typical patterns. Some of these
characteristics are listed below which can be used as a guide
to attribute unexplained outages to bird streamers. If several of
these characteristics are present, bird streamers should be sus-
pected. In addition, there may be characteristics that are typical
to a given environment due to species, season, migration, life
cycle and variability in the food supply. These characteristics
are as follows [9], [10]:
1) Unknown cause, neither lightning, switching surge, con-
tamination or any known cause. Fig. 3. Presence of thousands of starlings near the 69 kV line.
2) The presence of large bodied birds, such as eagles,
hawks, ospreys, vultures, and herons.
3) Outages that occur between the hours of 2300 to 0600
giving the suspicion that it may be a contamination flashover.
Fig. 1 illustrates outages logged by one utility [9].
4) The lack of natural roosts, such as trees in the area of the
outages.
5) The abundant availability of food, agricultural land,
sugar cane field and ponds.
6) Outages involving typically the center phase.
7) Seasonal pattern related to the presence of birds or their
feeding habits.
8) Instantaneous relay actions with successful reclosure, Fig. 4. Leakage current on the insulator in Fig. 2 recorded at low voltage:
typically not more than two in the same area. Upper curve—LV end, lower curve—HV end; the bars represent voltage
applied.
9) Flashed insulators, hardware, or structures, possibly evi-
dencing burn spots on the upper bridge of metallic structures.
flashovers occurred on an early morning when there was unusu-
10) The presence of dead or injured birds or burnt feathers
ally heavy fog. Fig. 4 shows the low voltage surface leakage
near the structure after an outage.
current measurement [12] of only two sheds at a voltage stress
of 20 V/mm. Repeated leakage current measurements over sev-
III. CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTAMINATION, NESTING, AND eral days recorded current as high as 24 mA, demonstrating the
ROOSTING OUTAGES unusually high conductance and adherence of the droppings.
The highly conductive droppings and the wetness of bird ex- Apparently, washing due to fog was not effective in removing
crement on insulators reduce the surface resistance to such an the excrement. ESDD and NSDD [13] measurements were also
extent that the nominal line voltage easily establishes an arc done on four insulators. The ESDD was as high as 0.40
across the insulators. at the post end (very heavy [14]) and 0.14 at the line
Fig. 2 shows a typical bird contaminated insulator, having end (heavy [14]) for one insulator. The NSDD values were quite
bird droppings all over the sheds. The insulator was a 69 kV low. Considering that the measurements were not always made
ceramic post, contaminated by thousands of starlings and some at the location of the severest contamination, these ESDD num-
pigeons over a period of several months (Fig. 3). A series of bers indicate the severity of the problem.
1850
Fig. 5. Contamination outage due to overnight roosting/staging—Brunswick
Substation, Nevada.
Fecal contamination has been a growing problem in many
utilities. Another utility suffered two outages from two different
aspects: a large flock (thousands in number) of blackbirds or
starlings came to roost in a substation. The overnight accumu-
lation of fecal contamination on the insulators caused an outage.
Fig. 5 shows the contamination caused in Brunswick substation
that feeds Carson city, the State Capitol of Nevada.
The second type of occurrence is a long-term accumulation
at a site that attracts birds, such as at a dairy. This long-term
accumulation triggers an outage with the onset of rain after a
long dry season. The same situation occurs at nesting sites. An
accumulation of fecal material on and around the nests creates a
conductive path on distribution lines when there is a rainstorm.
There are numerous instances recorded in which nests caught
fire, causing pole fires and outages.
Individual birds can create serious problems in substations
during nesting. Small birds, like starlings and sparrows, are
cavity nest builders and will build their nests in any small
openings available. Nest building activities in substations can
cause outages in several ways. Bird contacts are possible in
tight places where the energized equipment is close to grounded
surfaces. Birds will sometimes drop nesting materials when
flying into the substation, causing a short circuit. In addition
to the usual problems of contamination and outages caused by
crowding, nesting birds attract predators, typically raccoons
and cats, which often cause outages when climbing through the
station looking for nests. The motion made by birds flying in
and out will attract snakes, which in some parts of the country
actually cause more outages than birds [2].
Large birds, such as eagles, hawks, herons, vultures, and os-
preys cause streamer outages as well as nesting outages. Vul-
tures, unlike most raptors, will form large roosts [4]. In some
areas, vultures will frequently take advantage of the numerous
perching sites on transmission structures. Although the ener-
gized conductors are far enough apart to prevent wingtip con-
tacts, the roosting vultures cause extensive contamination of the
insulators with their droppings, causing eventual flashovers. Os-
preys and blue herons, and to a lesser extent, eagles and hawks,
build very large platform nests on transmission poles and struc-
tures (Fig. 6).
Fig. 7 shows another illustration of nesting outages, caused by
a red-tailed hawk nest. This stick nest is located on a dead-ended
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 19, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2004
Fig. 6. Osprey nest on HV line.
Fig. 7. Red-tailed hawk nest on a dead-ended structure that caused pole fire
due to fecal contamination.
structure with a double cross arm, a favorite site for nesting.
Leakage currents caused by fecal contamination attributable to
the increased activity around the nest, resulted in a fire that burnt
the pole and cross-arms.
To summarize, it has been observed that the bird related con-
tamination and nested outages have been caused by:
• small birds as well as large birds;
• overnight or over a long period;
• thousands of birds as well as a few birds;
• nesting birds, staging birds, and roosting birds.
IV. MITIGATION TECHNIQUES
A. Streamers
If only a few poles have the problem, perching guards can
be used successfully [4]. Perch guards of various designs are
available in the market [2]. Fig. 8 shows a wire type guard made
by some utilities. These have been used with mixed results in
reducing the number of streamer outages. Large perch guards
that are installed above the center phase are effective in moving
the bird streamers away by one meter or more [10]. In some
instances, perch guards are not completely effective allowing
birds to perch on them (Fig. 9). However, experience has shown
that perch guards, metal or plastic, have significantly reduced
bird related outages. Caution is advised in the use of plastic
perch guards or spikes as some will severely degrade due to the
SUNDARARAJAN et al.: PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO REDUCE BIRD RELATED POWER OUTAGES, PART II—STREAMERS AND CONTAMINATION
Fig. 8. Wire type bird discourager.
Fig. 9. Bird perching on a perch guard.
Fig. 10. Perch guards and insulator shield installed directly over an insulator.
sun’s UV after a few years and once a flashover has involved
plastic, the charred surface will become conductive presenting a
future flashover potential. These burned plastic devices should
be removed from the structure and replaced. Also, birds have
been known to both nest within plastic spikes and break portions
of the spikes.
If the structure has numerous places to perch, insulator shields
are more effective [4]. Some utilities use both perching guards
and insulator shields to prevent the birds from roosting directly
over the insulators, but allow them free use of the rest of the
structure (Fig. 10).
The provision of alternate platforms for perching is another
solution. In one utility, the bird streamer problem was solved
1851
Fig. 11. Successful utilization of an alternate nesting platform on a dummy
pole with a taller platform to attract birds to the dummy pole than to the power
line.
on a 345 kV line with the addition of insulation on guyed delta
towers.
A study of bird activity on transmission structures is being
carried out by one utility to develop devices to prevent birds
from causing outages. These devices are tested in an animal/bird
museum, with the type of birds that cause the problems. With
this controlled testing, it is possible to learn how to discourage
bird perching, without harming the birds or causing an outage
in the process.
Other bird discouragers for use in stations, for example, ul-
trasonic sirens, gel repellents and visual scare devices such as
plastic hawks, owls have been shown to be temporarily effective
to ineffective as the birds become accustomed to the devices.
The 1990 IEEE Survey reported that out of 56% utilities who
used these only 2% found it to be effective [5].
B. Contamination
Installation of plastic bird spikes and changing out of insula-
tors to 115 kV polymeric with longer leakage lengths and hy-
drophobic surfaces in place of the 69 kV ceramic post insulators
were the mitigation measures followed by one utility and has
been successful over the past three years.
If the outage is due to overnight staging/roosting birds, as in
Brunswick substation, there is little one can do to prevent such
an occurrence because no one was aware that the birds were in
the substation. The after-the-fact solution involves both wet and
dry washing of the insulators. Corncobs along with walnut shells
were used for this purpose. Tough areas have to be scrubbed with
a brush.
The long-term accumulation of bird contamination by the
above utility was treated with larger insulators, barriers to pre-
vent nesting and perching, and regular washing at these sites.
Ospreys, (as well as vultures, eagles, hawks, owls, and
falcons), are raptors and protected by state and federal law.
Raptor nests on transmission poles or structures cannot be
touched without a federal permit. The most successful method
of removing ospreys (after obtaining required permits) from
transmission poles is to provide them with a nearby alternative,
usually a pole with a platform installed near the existing nest
site. Fig. 11 shows a successful application of this concept.
This is an in-service illustration an osprey utilizing an alternate
1852 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 19, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2004

nesting platform provided by one utility. There are two chicks

in the nest. The pole, typically known, as dummy pole has no
conductors attached to it and is placed generally within 100 ft
of the power line. The platform is made taller than the line to
make it preferable.
Removing roosting birds in substations is tedious, time-con-
suming, and labor intensive. Since the birds have selected the
substation as a roosting site because it appears safe and comfort-
able, the utility must convince them otherwise. Regardless of the
method, (bird discouragers, pyrotechnics, noisemakers, lights,
or falconry), it will require the presence of a crew daily for a
period of weeks. In addition, it will require frequent follow-up
inspections to make sure the birds do not return.
Nesting birds require a different approach. Unfortunately,
regular inspection of substations and prompt removal of bird
nests is not always the answer. Once some types of birds select
a nesting site, they will attempt to re-build their nests as often as
the nests are removed. Some utilities, after outages were caused
by birds trying to rebuild nests, no longer remove nests from
their substations. Instead, they keep the area cleared of nesting
material dropped by the birds and carefully trim loose material
from the outside of the nests. If the birds have successfully built
a nest without causing an outage and the utility chooses not to
disturb it, the utility should install climbing guards and “snake
fences” to keep out raccoons, cats, opossums, and snakes.
When the birds have raised their young and left the substation,
the nests can be removed and the area screened to prevent nest
re-building the next year.
Birds are persistent and constantly trying to build and locate
nests in substationstructuresand equipment. Newandbetter ways
areneededtodissuadenestbuilding.Someofthepreviousmethods
tried include the use of propane guns, bird bombs, imitation owls,
electronic noise makers, and flashing lights, all to no avail to pre- Fig. 12. Bird shield for suspension insulators. (Top) Insulator shield—opening
vent roosting and nesting in the substation equipment. position. (Bottom) Insulator shield—fully covered position.
Birds do not like light in the night. Using flood lights and
keeping them on all night was successfully used by one utility to because birds are remarkably successful beings, virtually no
drive thousands of starlings nesting in the substation and causing habitat is inaccessible for them and they are also smart, intel-
contamination flashovers on 500 kV capacitor banks. ligent, observant, living beings, capable of adapting to the en-
On a similar incidence in another substation involving 500 kV vironment contrary to the outages caused by inanimate causes
series capacitor support insulators, the above utility decided that such as lightning, switching surges and air-borne contamination
both capacitor banks will be scheduled for dead-washes twice outages. This aspect has to be kept in mind when working to-
a year, once in spring prior to summer loading, and again in ward the bird related outages. Thus, knowledge of bird behavior
fall prior to Typically bird contamination flashovers are caused and interactions is essential in understanding the effectiveness
by the accumulation of bird excrement on the insulators over of the deterrents. If a utility is having a chronic problem with
short or long period. Periodic water washing or cleaning of the birds and the above suggestions do not completely solve the
insulators have found to be beneficial in removing contaminants problem, then the focus should be on protecting the equipment.
and extending the insulation strength of the insulators. IEEE Std Transmission outages are costly and insulators contaminated
957 gives guidelines and methods to clean both ceramic and by bird droppings are expensive to clean. The cost of taking
nonceramic insulators [15]. preventive measures is easily justified when compared to the
Insulator shields (Fig. 12) made by one manufacturer that expense of repairing or replacing damaged equipment coupled
completely cover the insulators have been reported by two util- with outage time and customer impacts. Thus, although expen-
ities to be effective in protecting the insulators from bird con- sive, protecting transmission structures and substations from
tamination. birds will actually have a lower cost per consumer than most
distribution line improvements. There are a lot of utilities that
V. SUMMARY
do not have adequate experience with bird related outages. They
Realistically, there is no practical way to permanently keep tend to handle the causes as unknown and learn to live with it.
birds out of substations or off transmission structures. This is There is enough expertise present in some of the larger utili-
SUNDARARAJAN et al.: PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO REDUCE BIRD RELATED POWER OUTAGES, PART II—STREAMERS AND CONTAMINATION
ties and in professional working groups that utilities without the
knowledge no longer need to just live with their problems.
Different birds cause different problems that require different
solutions. Designing an effective program requires knowing
something about the birds involved in order to select the most
appropriate deterrent. The following steps can be taken to
effectively reduce bird related outages:
1) Knowing the cause is the first step in solving the
problem. Find the reason/cause why the birds are present in
the first place and try to eliminate the attraction.
2) Have good outage monitoring and reporting systems and
forms that include bird related outages.
3) Become familiar with the birds in the affected area.
4) Use perch guards.
5) Provide alternate perch sites.
6) Use insulator shields.
7) Periodically wash/clean the insulators in problem areas.
8) Implement an aggressive right-of-way cleaning and a
tree-trimming program.
9) Maintain a regular scheduled inspection program.
10) For new and modified lines and substations, utilize de-
signs that do not encourage bird use.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
As the Task Force Chair and on behalf of the members, it
is my pleasure to thank Dr. Schneider, who was instrumental
for the creation of this TF and also for his support and encour-
agement. Thanks are also due to all the members and guests of
1853
the TF who participated and contributed. Special thanks are due
to Dr. E. Cherney and Mr. S. Siegel for their contribution and
prompt, tireless review and refinement of the drafts.
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