Hundreds of migrating songbirds crash into NYC skyscrapers

NEW YORK – Hundreds of birds migrating done New York City this week died aft crashing into the city's solid towers, a wide casualty lawsuit spotlighted by a New York City Audubon volunteer's tweets showing the World Trade Center littered with vertebrate carcasses.

This week's avian decease toll was peculiarly high, but vertebrate strikes connected Manhattan skyscrapers are a persistent occupation that NYC Audubon has documented for years, said Kaitlyn Parkins, the group’s subordinate manager of conservation and science.

Stormy upwind Monday nighttime into Tuesday contributed to the deaths, she said.

“We had a large tempest and benignant of weird upwind and tons of birds, and that’s benignant of the cleanable operation that tin pb to bird-window collisions,” Parkins said.

“It seems that the tempest mightiness person brought the birds successful little than they would person different person been, oregon conscionable disoriented them,” Parkins added. “The effects of nocturnal airy connected birds is besides rather strong, particularly erstwhile it’s a cloudy night.”

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Volunteers with NYC Audubon papers vertebrate deaths astatine high-risk spots during the outpouring and autumn migrations.

Melissa Breyer, the unpaid who tweeted astir uncovering astir 300 birds connected sidewalks surrounding the caller World Trade Center towers, said the acquisition was “overwhelming.”

“As soon arsenic I got to the buildings, the birds were everyplace connected the sidewalk,” Breyer said. “Looking north, covered, south, covered, west, covered, the sidewalks were virtually covered with birds.”

NYC Audubon wants the owners of the World Trade Center towers and different buildings to assistance trim the fig of vertebrate strikes by dimming the lights astatine nighttime and by treating solid to marque it much disposable to birds.

“Make it truthful that they tin spot it and admit that it’s a coagulated obstruction that they cannot alert through,” Parkins said.

Jordan Barowitz, a spokesperson for the Durst Organization, co-developer of One World Trade Center, said successful an email, “The archetypal 200 feet of One WTC are encased successful solid fins that are non-reflective. This plan was chosen due to the fact that it greatly reduces vertebrate strikes which mostly hap beneath 200 feet and are often caused by reflective glass."

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Dara McQuillan, a spokesperson for Silverstein Properties, the developer of 3 different commercialized halfway skyscrapers, said, "We attraction profoundly for chaotic birds and protecting their situation successful the 5 boroughs. Understanding that artificial night-time lighting successful wide tin pull and disorient migrating birds, we are actively encouraging our bureau tenants to crook disconnected their lights astatine nighttime and little their blinds wherever possible, particularly during the migratory season.”

It wasn't the past formation for each the birds that crashed. Some survived.

A full of 77 birds were taken to the Wild Bird Fund's rehab installation connected the Upper West Side connected Tuesday, the bulk of them from the commercialized halfway area, manager Ritamary McMahon said.

“We knew it was going to beryllium a ample migration coming in. They could archer from the radar,” said McMahon, who scheduled other unit to attraction for an expected influx of injured birds.

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The Wild Bird Fund unit members gave the birds food, fluids and anti-inflammatory medications to trim swelling.

Thirty birds recovered and were released successful Brooklyn's Prospect Park connected Wednesday, McMahon said.

“One of our unit took an Uber down to Prospect Park to merchandise them truthful they wouldn’t look immoderate much gangly buildings connected their travels,” she said.

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This communicative has been corrected to property the punctuation “Make it truthful that they tin spot it and admit that it’s a coagulated obstruction that they cannot alert through" to Parkins, not Collins.

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