One tall building. One dark and stormy night. 395 dead birds. - The Washington Post
At 7:20 a.m. last Thursday, Josh Henderson was summoned to a mass casualty event at a 23-story building in downtown Galveston, Tex. He arrived to a scene unlike any he had ever witnessed. Henderson, supervisor of the animal services unit in the Galveston Police Department, quickly began collecting the bodies — dozens upon dozens of migratory birds that had evidently become disoriented and slammed into the high-rise while flying north from Central and South America during a storm the night before.
Three of the birds — a Nashville warbler and two magnolia warblers — were alive. But 395 were not so lucky. Henderson knows the number because he counted the animals by hand, sorted them into a rainbow-hued array on an autopsy table, and then packaged them for delivery to researchers. The resulting list and images will deliver a gut-punch to any appreciator of birds, and probably to most anyone who likes living things....
In a statement, Henderson sounded a bit stunned by the mass casualties. Birds fly into buildings fairly regularly, he conceded. But “the numbers are nothing I am familiar with throughout my career in animal services,” he said. “This is the largest event like this I have ever been a part of in over 10 years.”
Bird advocacy groups said the incident, which may have been exacerbated by strong storm winds that propelled some of the animals into the structure, served as a reminder of the dangers buildings pose to birds. As many as 1 billion birds die in collisions with glass in the United States each year, according to American Bird Conservancy. An Audubon Society representative said building crashes are a “tragic and avoidable fate for too many birds that comes second only to death by cat.”
“Turning off indoor and outdoor lights, especially during spring and fall migration seasons, is a simple and effective way to protect birds and save people money,” said Tania Homayoun, urban conservation program manager for Audubon Texas. Wildlife advocates also argue that new buildings should be constructed with “bird friendliness” in mind, which can involve using patterned, frosted or other nonreflective glass, as well as incorporating architectural features such as awnings.
