Out
On A Limb / November 2005
Birds Take Dim View of City Life
Tourists have flocked to the bright lights of New York City for decades, but this year, the city dimmed parts of its skyline to save the lives of migratory birds. The Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, the Citigroup Center, the Morgan Stanley Building and the World Financial Center were among the high-profile high-rises that agreed to requests from the city and the Audubon Society to dim or turn off nonessential lighting at midnight.
Man made skyscrapers will defer to nature at least twice a year, by dimming their lights in September and October, during the peak of the fall migratory season, and again in April and May, during the peak of the spring migratory season.
The combination of glass, tall buildings and bright light is extremely dangerous for birds, according to ornithologists. A conservative estimate is that more than 100 million birds die each year from crashing into glass on structures of all types, even houses. Birds just don’t see glass. They are not able to recognize glass as a barrier and avoid it.
Lights, particularly those from skyscrapers, distract migratory birds from the visual cues they receive from the stars and the moon, according to conservation ecologists at the Field Museum in Chicago.
The bright lights of tall city buildings pull the birds off their migratory path and into urban canyons, especially when skies are foggy or overcast. Then the birds crash into the building’s glass at night because they are attracted to the light, or they circle the buildings until they become exhausted. In the morning, when they try to escape the city, they crash into the glass because they are confused by the reflection of sky.
Unless people look carefully, the dead birds can be hard to spot because many of them are small songbirds, later swept up byt the city’s custodial staff.
Since 1997, Audubon Society volunteers have collected more than 4,000 dead birds of 100 different species at just a handful of buildings in Midtown and Lower Manhattan.
Toronto began a program to dim its lights in 1993, and Chicago started a voluntary program in 1999 that now includes 100 buildings. In Chicago, the Field Museum found an 80 percent reduction in bird deaths when lights were turned off during a five-year study on a single Chicago Building, McCormick Place. “When the lights are on, you get big bird kills, and when they aren’t, you don’t,” said Judy Pollock, director of bird conservation for the Audubon Society in Chicago.
Even the skyline dimmed, birds crashing into glass remains a problem. Environmental groups are working with the construction industry to create glass that can be seen by birds, potentially by giving the glass a UV coating.
The staff of one of New York’s landmark buildings, the Empire State Building, has long been aware of migratory bird problems. For at least 25 years, the building has turned off its decorative lights when large numbers of birds are observed flying around the top of the building during migration season. The circling birds are particularly common during foggy or overcast nights, said Lydia Ruth, a spokeswoman for the building.
Employees from the observatory will call down to the building engineers to tell them to shut off the lights. “We don’t want to take any chances, and we don’t want to cause any bird deaths,” Ms. Ruth said. “But we have people call the next day, ‘Why did you turn the lights out early?’ You can’t keep everybody happy.” But, perhaps, they can keep some of the nations best loved song birds alive.
Copyright © 2005-2006 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
Femme Fair 2006
Top • Home • Subscribe • Advertise • Submit • Distribution • Contact
Support Our Advertisers • Organization Resources • Women Owned Business
Designed by Livewire Studio
Send an Email About This Article