We know birds are killed flying into buildings – now we know about a billion birds die each year. These are the worst cities.
April 2019
Cities are dangerous places for birds. All over the world, birds fly into buildings and are killed. North America is a vast continent, with hundreds of thousands of birds migrating each year. So it’s logical that many birds meet their death there. A new study now shows which cities are the worst for bird deaths.
Birds migrate or travel twice a year, many thousands of miles. They go north in the spring from Central and South America, across the Great Lakes to Canada. Then they return south in the fall.
They need to stop to rest. Suppose they stop on a street. Nearby, they see a tree, so they fly straight towards it – but it’s not a tree. It’s the reflection of a tree in a glass building. They slam into the building and die.
Many birds travel at night, when the air is cool and calm. Cities have bright lights, which attract birds. They fly towards light – and fly into glass buildings because they don’t look like solid objects to them. And so birds die.
It’s impossible to get accurate figures for how many birds die, but the estimate of a billion birds dying each year is based on data from a wide variety of different groups across the country.
Which Cities Are Worst for Bird Deaths?
The report is keen to show that the authors are NOT criticising these cities. Instead, they’re trying to raise awareness and provide data and insight that could help.
Chicago is a big city on a big migration route, so it makes sense that it is the most dangerous city for those feathered travellers. More than 5 million birds from at least 250 different species fly through the Windy City every fall and spring – and meet their deaths when they crash into glass buildings.
Houston and Dallas, which also lie along some of the most popular migration paths, round out the top three most deadly cities.
The famous skyline of Manhattan is another death trap for birds.
New York, Los Angeles, St Louis and Atlanta also pose risks during migration.
What Can Be Done To Stop Birds Dying?
There are 2 main ways to help.
The Audobon society recommends turning out the lights in buildings at night for a few weeks during peak migration. It’s a simple first step and makes a big difference. State-operated buildings in New York and Minnesota, for example, have participated in Audobon’s LightsOut , – they switch off building lights during migration.
Conservationists also say that new buildings should adopt more “bird-friendly” designs, for example using patterned glass and dimmer lighting. San Francisco and Toronto have already adopted some bird-friendly guidelines, while city council members in New York and Chicago have introduced legislation to adopt similar measures. A bipartisan bill in Congress introduced in January, called the “Bird-Safe Building Act”, would require new federal buildings to adopt designs that keep migrating birds in mind.
Losing up to a billion birds – every year – is massively serious. We need to do everything we can!
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