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"End of Days" bird kill just a fraction of real death tollBy Morgan Erickson-Davis, mongabay.comJanuary 07, 2011 The sudden en-masse deaths of thousands of birds in the Southern U.S. on the night of New Year's Eve have created a frenzy of media attention, but in reality hardly compare to the massive number that die each year because of human activity.
However, these deaths represent just a fraction of the true impact humans have on birdlife. “There are many human-related causes of bird mortality including buildings, outdoor cats, pesticides, communication towers, automobiles, wind farms, and lead poisoning from spent ammunition and lost fishing tackle." said American Bird Conservancy Vice President, Mike Parr. "But because most of the deaths from those sources often occur in ones or twos, they often go unnoticed or unreported.”
In addition to all these hazards, the increasing presence of wind turbines is a threat to many birds, especially when they're built in the path of migration routes. “When you look at the totality of human-caused threats to birds, it has got to give cause for serious concern about our cumulative effects on their populations,” Parr said. Strides have been taken in the development, implementation, and promotion of bird-safe technology. For instance, the prohibition or restriction of many pesticides most toxic to birds, such as carbofuran, fenthion, and ethyl parathion, has reduced bird mortality by as much as 75 percent. Bird-safe glass is also being developed for use in tall buildings. “Bird-safe building glass is no longer a pie-in-the-sky dream." said Parr. "Its reality is on the horizon – we are close. The manufacturers are working with the scientists; they’re working with us. And local communities are getting into the act as well, with more and more cities – such as San Francisco – looking at policies that implement bird-friendly construction,” New wind technology is in the works for a turbine which would pose much less risk to birds than the design implemented in wind farms today. Called an "airborne wind turbine", the idea is to do away with the tower of a traditional wind turbine and instead use a helium-filled blimp which would enable the device to be raised much higher than is currently possible in order to capture the increased wind energy of higher altitudes. Because its height, the device could emit a bird-deterring sound too loud for use in lower turbines. However, while airborne wind turbines are on the horizon, today's turbines are killing hundreds of thousands of birds every year. The Department of the Interior is currently considering imposing operational guidelines on wind farms which would lessen their risk to birds. Parr believes those guidelines should be mandatory. “Voluntary guidelines don’t work." he said. "We wouldn’t expect people to abide by voluntary drinking and driving limits. We can’t expect the wind industry to follow voluntary environmental guidelines either.”
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(09/19/2010) Marcy Heacker, a wildlife forensic scientist at the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Lab in Washington, DC, spoke with Laurel Neme on her 'The WildLife' radio show and podcast about wildlife forensics, bird strikes and feather identification, and how her analyses help airports manage wildlife to enhance airline safety. She also discussed how she and other forensic scientists at this lab helped analyze the crash of U.S. Airways Flight 1549, otherwise known as the 'miracle on the Hudson.'
(07/13/2009) The deaths of billions of birds annually due to collision with window glass can be reduced through simple measures including dimming lights in buildings at night, landscaping changes, and using window coverings that make glass more visible to birds, reports a bird expert writing in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. Conducting experiment with different types of firm on plastics and glass, Daniel Klem Jr., an ornithologist at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, found coverings that create visual "noise" can dramatically reduce bird-window collisions without drastically increasing costs or impeding visibility for humans relative to conventional glass. The most effective covering was a new exterior film with evenly spaced ultraviolet (UV)-reflecting and UV-absorbing patterns, which can be seen by birds but not humans.
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