What you should know
- Hundreds of migrating birds crossing New York City this week died after crashing into the city’s skyscrapers.
- This incident was highlighted by tweets from a city Audubon volunteer showing the World Trade Center littered with bird carcasses.
- NYC Audubon wants the owners of the World Trade Center towers and other buildings to help reduce the number of these incidents by dimming the lights at night and treating the glass to make it more visible to birds.
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NEW YORK – Hundreds of migrating birds crossing New York City this week were killed after crashing into the city’s skyscrapers, an event highlighted by tweets from a city Audubon volunteer showing the World Trade Center packed. of corpses of little birds.
This week’s death toll was particularly high, but crashes into Manhattan skyscrapers are a persistent problem that NYC Audubon has documented for years, said Kaitlyn Parkins, the group’s associate director of conservation and science.
Stormy weather Monday through Tuesday night contributed to the deaths, he said.
“We had a big storm, weird weather, and a lot of birds, and that’s the perfect combination that can lead to bird-window collisions,” Parkins said.
“It looks like the storm could have driven the birds lower than they would have been otherwise, or just disoriented them,” Parkins added. “The effects of night light on birds are also quite strong, especially when it is a cloudy night.”
NYC Audubon volunteers document bird deaths in high-risk locations during spring and fall migrations.
Melissa Breyer, the volunteer who tweeted about the discovery of nearly 300 birds on the sidewalks surrounding the new World Trade Center towers, said the experience was “overwhelming.”
“As soon as I got to the buildings, the birds were everywhere on the sidewalk,” Breyer said. “Looking north, covered, south, covered, west, covered, the sidewalks were literally covered in birds.”
NYC Audubon wants the owners of the World Trade Center towers and other buildings to help reduce the number of these incidents by dimming the lights at night and treating the glass to make it more visible to birds.
“Make it so that you can see it and recognize that it is a solid barrier that you cannot go through,” Collins said of the measures they ask for.
Jordan Barowitz, spokesman for the Durst Organization, co-developer of One World Trade Center, said in an email: “The first 200 feet of One WTC are clad in non-reflective glass fins. This design was chosen because it greatly reduces bird strikes, which mostly occur below 200 feet and are often caused by reflective glass. “
Dara McQuillan, a spokesperson for Silverstein Properties, the developer of three other skyscrapers at the mall, said: “We care deeply about wild birds and protect their habitats across all five boroughs. Understand that artificial night lighting in general can attract and disorient people. As bird migrants, we are actively encouraging our office tenants to turn off the lights at night and lower the blinds whenever possible, especially during the migratory season. “
It was not the last flight of all the birds that crashed. Some survived.
A total of 77 birds were brought to Wild Bird Fund’s rehabilitation facility on the Upper West Side on Tuesday, most of them from the mall area, said director Ritamary McMahon.
“We knew there was going to be a big migration. They could tell from the radar,” said McMahon, who scheduled additional staff to tend to an expected influx of injured birds.
Wild Bird Fund staff members gave the birds food, fluids, and anti-inflammatory medications to reduce swelling.
Thirty birds recovered and were released in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Wednesday, McMahon said.
“One of our staff took an Uber to Prospect Park to free them so they wouldn’t face any more tall buildings on their trips,” he said.
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