‘Overwhelming’ mass casualty event as birds crash into skyscrapers

Source: The Hill | September 17, 2021 | Adam Barnes

A New York City Audubon volunteer highlighted the mass casualty event in a series of tweets, documenting 291 dead birds.

Hundreds of birds fatally collided into skyscrapers in New York City this week — an “overwhelming” event caused partly by inclement weather, but a persistent issue in the city.

A New York City Audubon volunteer highlighted the mass casualty event in a series of tweets Sept. 14 and 15, documenting 291 dead birds. 

“When you have 226 dead window-struck migratory birds from one morning, it’s hard to get them all in one photo,” Melissa Breyer wrote in her thread, additionally citing 65 additional dead birds in a subsequent tweet. 

The group’s associate director of conservation and science, Kaitlyn Parkins, told The Associated Press the death toll reflects an ongoing issue the organization routinely documents. Parkins added that turbulent weather conditions may have also contributed to the number of fatalities. 

“It seems that the storm might have brought the birds in lower than they would have otherwise have been, or just disoriented them,” Parkins told the AP. “The effects of nocturnal light on birds is also quite strong, especially when it’s a cloudy night.”

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Parkins is asking the owners of the towers to make it safer for the birds — possibly by dimming the lights — to “make it so that they can see it and recognize that it’s a solid barrier that they cannot fly through.”

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