May 14, 2019

Dangerous Cities For Migrating Birds

Listen Later

2 minutes

Billions of birds migrate north in the spring and south in the fall. The majority of them fly at night. But as they pass over large cities, the birds can become disoriented by bright artificial light – so-called light pollution, causing them to crash into buildings or windows.

Researchers estimate that 600 million birds die from building

collisions in the United States every year.

Now, a new paper from researchers at Cornell University reveals which

metropolitan areas are most dangerous for birds and why.

The researchers ranked cities where, as a result of geography and

exposure to light pollution, birds are at the greatest risk of becoming

attracted to and disoriented by lights and crashing into buildings. They

combined light pollution levels with bird density data in order to make their

calculations. Their paper was recently

published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Chicago, Houston, and Dallas finished as the three most dangerous

cities for migrating birds. While

migration routes vary depending on the season, these three cities still topped

all others during both the spring and fall migrations due to their size and

geographic positioning in the heart of North America’s most trafficked aerial

corridors.

Audubon’s Lights Out program is one of several national efforts

encouraging cities to reduce light pollution, particularly on heavy migration

nights, in order to reduce bird mortality.

But homeowners need to do their part as well since an estimated

quarter-million birds die from collisions with residential houses every

year. The suggestion to cities and

homeowners alike is the same: If you

don’t need the lights, turn them off.

**********

Web Links

Chicago tops list of most dangerous cities for migrating birds

Photo, posted May 18, 2017, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

...more

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Earth Wise

By Randy Simon

4.7

1515 ratings

May 14, 2019

Dangerous Cities For Migrating Birds

Listen Later

2 minutes

Billions of birds migrate north in the spring and south in the fall. The majority of them fly at night. But as they pass over large cities, the birds can become disoriented by bright artificial light – so-called light pollution, causing them to crash into buildings or windows.

Researchers estimate that 600 million birds die from building

collisions in the United States every year.

Now, a new paper from researchers at Cornell University reveals which

metropolitan areas are most dangerous for birds and why.

The researchers ranked cities where, as a result of geography and

exposure to light pollution, birds are at the greatest risk of becoming

attracted to and disoriented by lights and crashing into buildings. They

combined light pollution levels with bird density data in order to make their

calculations. Their paper was recently

published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Chicago, Houston, and Dallas finished as the three most dangerous

cities for migrating birds. While

migration routes vary depending on the season, these three cities still topped

all others during both the spring and fall migrations due to their size and

geographic positioning in the heart of North America’s most trafficked aerial

corridors.

Audubon’s Lights Out program is one of several national efforts

encouraging cities to reduce light pollution, particularly on heavy migration

nights, in order to reduce bird mortality.

But homeowners need to do their part as well since an estimated

quarter-million birds die from collisions with residential houses every

year. The suggestion to cities and

homeowners alike is the same: If you

don’t need the lights, turn them off.

**********

Web Links

Chicago tops list of most dangerous cities for migrating birds

Photo, posted May 18, 2017, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

...more