In Manhattan, the sidewalks are regularly littered with many dead birds. Around the One World Trade Center (One WTC), the massacre prompted an NGO to communicate on the subject and to demand actions capable of solving the problem.
Especially difficult conditions
Melissa Breyer is with the National Audubon Society, an NGO campaigning for environmental conservation. She posted a video on Twitter on September 15, 2021, showing the number of bird corpses collected near One World Trade Center. In just over an hour, Melissa Breyer has assembled no less than 226 dead birds and 77 others still alive, but to be treated absolutely in a refuge. Not surprisingly, the National Audubon Society has called for the establishment of actions.
It must be said that seeing birds crash against the buildings of Manhattan is not a new phenomenon. However, the problem has grown in recent days due to the arrival of the autonomous, and therefore annual migrations. Above all, the weather conditions played a major role. Indeed, tropical storm Ida, which killed at least 44 human beings, forced migrating birds to fly lower. to avoid headwinds. Thus, they flew at the height of skyscrapers, unfortunately increasing the risk of collision. Let us also mention another danger for birds: the night light which is reflected on the windows of buildings, and this, especially in cloudy weather.
I did this for 65 minutes straight doing one loop around @ 4WTC and @3NYWTC — most of these before sunrise. Please can we turn off lights during migration??? pic.twitter.com/pCXoJkUXo0
— Melissa Breyer (@MelissaBreyer) September 14, 2021
How to act to limit bird collisions?
For the National Audubon Society, officials at One World Trade Center and other skyscrapers must find solutions. The main objectives are to reduce light pollution and treat glass windows to make them more visible to birds. The Silverstein Properties developing skyscrapers in New York City responded positively in an NPR article: “We actively encourage our office tenants to turn off their lights at night and lower their shades whenever possible, especially during the migration season.”
The spokesperson for the Durst Organization that co-developed the One World Trade Center said that the first sixty meters of One WTC had been the subject of a special design: non-reflective glass fins. However, this design was chosen precisely because the first sixty meters of the buildings are most dangerous in terms of collisions with the birds.
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