Window collisions aren’t just about downtown: according to the New York City Audubon, low-rise buildings are responsible for nearly 45% of collisions.
According to Rita McMahon, it’s easy and inexpensive to modernize a building to make it less dangerous for birds. If some economical preventive measures, such as nets, are not aesthetically attractive, other solutions that come up often are window stickers, UV adhesive films (invisible to humans, but not to birds) and even basic screens. At night, measures as simple as turning off the lights of buildings that are visible from the outside can be effective. selon l’American Bird Conservancy. When it comes to new buildings, the type of glazing used, the location and number of windows, and the style of exterior lighting can all make all the difference.
Collecting data on bird collisions with a particular building and managing mitigation measures are also variables in the equation, explains Rita McMahon. This is what prompts Calista McRae to go pick up the dead birds in the morning, recording where and when she found them.
“If you tell an owner that their building has killed 350 birds in the fall between 6 and 9 a.m. and ask them what they plan to do to prevent that, it’s more likely that it will move them. things, ”she said.
Genevieve Yue, the person who came to the aid of the pigeon, confides that she feels this sense of duty. She explains to us that she scrupulously respects the rules of social distancing and that it was nice to be in a public place without thinking about the pandemic. “It’s a bit like we’re on a mission. Each person was doing something benevolent, ”she adds.
Once her pigeon was admitted, she started to cry behind her mask when she left. “It was a mixture of feelings. I was moved to see this human behavior, to see this man holding a little bird in his hands, but I also felt pain to witness so much suffering, ”she confides. “It was like letting go. There is so much suffering around us, but also a lot of benevolence ”.
The pigeon brought by Genevieve Yue had a broken back and had to be euthanized. Sometimes “the only thing you can do is end the suffering,” says Rita McMahon, who personally looked after the bird. What Genevieve Yue did “is not nothing”, she adds.
This article originally appeared on nationalgeographic.com in the English language.
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