[TowerTalk] Power lines, hawks, and fire ignition (slightly off-topic)

[Bill VanAlstyne]

I couldn't help but wonder at this snippet from an AP newswire article in
this morning's paper regarding how the Santa Clarita wildfire in California
supposedly started: "[The wildfire] was ignited when a red-tailed hawk flew
into a power line, was electrocuted and fell, burning, into brush."

I know some of you guys on this list are extremely knowledgeable about the
basic physics of electromagnetism. Could somebody please explain how a
single high-tension AC wire can ignite a hawk? (Yuck.) Where does the
current flow -- I mean, between what and what?

Bill / W5WVO