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In relation to accidents due to bird nests in contact with overhead distribution lines, the authors investigated the life estimation of conductor insulation. Accidents are often caused by crows or magpies. There is a region in which magpies have been designated a protected bird in Japan. In that region, the nests cannot be easily removed in the breeding season. Recently, metal wires have been used as nest material. When this conductive material is in contact with a distribution line and arm, a corona discharge will occur. The conductor insulation of the distribution line suffers deterioration and there is a possibility of causing an accident. In this study, an acceleration test was performed to investigate the time from nest building to an accident in the distribution line. The acceleration factor based on the charge amount of the corona and the influence of the applied voltage on corona characteristics was discussed. The life of the conductor insulation was discussed in terms of the V- t characteristics and the acceleration factor. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 179(4): 25-32, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library (). DOI 10.1002/eej.21260 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]