Metallicus pinus var. celltowerabscondium
America's Songbirds At-Risk: Help Keep Deadly Towers Out of Their Way (click here)
Earthjustice has long been working to protect America’s wildlife and diverse bird populations, including:
Calling on the FCC to protect millions of birds killed annually in collisions with communications towers nationwide; and
Working to protect two imperiled birds -- the Newell's Shearwater, or 'A'o, and Hawaiian Petrel, or 'Ua'u -- from fatal collisions at seven large communication towers in Hawaii.
Bird kills from collisions with towers have been well documented for over five decades. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has reported that at least five million migratory birds are killed each year from collisions with cell phone, radio, and digital television towers in the United States alone, but estimates that a more realistic estimate may be as high as 40-50 million bird deaths per year.
Birds die when they collide with towers, their guy wires, or related structures. With over 85,000 communication towers currently scattered across the country and an average of almost 20 new towers built each day, migratory birds have an increasingly good chance of meeting a tower during their long journeys....
Earthjustice has long been working to protect America’s wildlife and diverse bird populations, including:
Calling on the FCC to protect millions of birds killed annually in collisions with communications towers nationwide; and
Working to protect two imperiled birds -- the Newell's Shearwater, or 'A'o, and Hawaiian Petrel, or 'Ua'u -- from fatal collisions at seven large communication towers in Hawaii.
Bird kills from collisions with towers have been well documented for over five decades. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has reported that at least five million migratory birds are killed each year from collisions with cell phone, radio, and digital television towers in the United States alone, but estimates that a more realistic estimate may be as high as 40-50 million bird deaths per year.
Birds die when they collide with towers, their guy wires, or related structures. With over 85,000 communication towers currently scattered across the country and an average of almost 20 new towers built each day, migratory birds have an increasingly good chance of meeting a tower during their long journeys....
...from New Jersey Audubon...
Birds and Tower Kills
..."An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 birds, mostly Lapland Longspurs, were killed on the night of January 22, 1998, at a 420 foot tall communications tower in western Kansas. Apparently a heavy snowstorm sent the birds up looking for bare ground. Dense fog caused the tower's aviation-safety lights (required on structures over 200') to reflect off water in the air and form an illuminated space, causing the birds to switch to their diurnal (visual) mode of navigation. The flock circled the lighted tower and collided with its guy wires. Some birds were impaled by wheat stubble, suggesting they were so disoriented that they couldn't tell which way was up and flew into the ground at full force. The tower had three white strobes. This is interesting because it has been suggested that flashing lights cause less mortality than steadily illuminated lights. Evidence suggests that continent-wide, communications towers kill 2 to 4 million songbirds each year." (American Bird Conservancy, Bird Calls, March 1998)....
...This issue is both local and hemispheric, since migratory birds are involved. NJAS urges community groups to promote awareness of this tower lighting-bird kill problem among their congressional representatives, mayors and councils and commissions, and to urge the upholding of zoning and environmental regulations and state conservation laws. NJAS also urges an expanded program of monitoring of tower kills. Even though this rule permitting the override of local zoning and state conservation laws is not currently in effect, it could become standard operating procedure under pressure from communications companies seeking to beat the competition. Vigilance is the price of conservation.
Richard Kane, Vice President
Conservation and Stewardship
Copyright © 2007 New Jersey Audubon SocietyAll rights reserved.
