Many birds relocating through New York City this week kicked the bucket in the wake of colliding with the city’s glass towers, a mass loss occasion highlighted by a New York City Audubon volunteer’s tweets showing the World Exchange Community covered with bird corpses.
We had big storm and sort of weird weather: says Kaitlyn Parkins
The current week’s avian loss of life was especially high, however bird strikes on Manhattan high rises are a steady issue that New York City Audubon has recorded for quite a long time, said Kaitlyn Parkins, the gathering’s partner head of preservation and science.
“We had a big storm and sort of weird weather and lots of birds, and that’s sort of the perfect combination that can lead to bird-window collisions,” Parkins said.
“It seems that the storm might have brought the birds in lower than they would have otherwise been, or just disoriented them,” Parkins added. “The effects of nocturnal light on birds is also quite strong, especially when it’s a cloudy night.”
Bird passings at high-hazard spots
Volunteers with New York City Audubon archive bird passings at high-hazard spots throughout the spring and fall movements.
Melissa Breyer, the volunteer who tweeted about discovering almost 300 birds on walkways encompassing the new World Exchange Place towers, said the experience was “overwhelming”.
Statement made by Melissa Breyer
“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 covered with birds.”
Need of proprietors of the World Trade Community towers
New York City Audubon needs the proprietors of the World Exchange Community towers and different structures to assist with lessening the number of bird strikes by diminishing the lights around evening time and by getting glass to make it more noticeable to birds.
“Make it so that they can see it and recognize that it’s a solid barrier that they cannot fly through,” Parkins said.
Statement made by Jordan Barowitz
Jordan Barowitz, a representative for the Durst Association, co-developer of One World Exchange Community, said in an email, “The first 200 feet of One WTC are encased in glass fins that are non-reflective. This design was chosen because it greatly reduces bird strikes which mostly occur below 200 feet and are frequently caused by reflective glass.”
