Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year • Hacker News Board

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#11

Post by Swizec » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 1:05 PM UTC

aqme28 wrote: post #7

_delirium wrote: post #3

It's a bit odd that we hear a lot more about the ~300k birds killed annually by windmills than 7 million killed by communication towers (I didn't even know about this one). I would guess because windmills are a hotter political issue.

And that pales in comparison to the number of birds killed by glass. Estimates of 100 million to 1 billion birds annually in the US alone. Every time I hear bird-deaths as an argument against windmills I want to scream until I die. [1] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4134773/ns/us_news-environment/t...

Birds dying from glass is actually a rather simple problem to solve - eagle stickers.

Apparently if you put a sticker of an eagle's silhuette on every couple of windows most birds will stay away and won't hit the glass. I see this mostly done on our motorways though ... never seen it on a skyscraper yet.

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#12

Post by seabee » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 1:10 PM UTC

jules wrote: post #9

aqme28 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that pales in comparison to the number of birds killed by glass. Estimates of 100 million to 1 billion birds annually in the US alone. Every time I hear bird-deaths as an argument against windmills I want to scream until I die. [1] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4134773/ns/us_news-environment/t...

Going further, the number of birds killed for human consumption is even greater: 8.9 billion chickens in the US per year.

The difference is farmed poultry isn't an environmental concern (well, the waste they produce is, but not the birds themselves).

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#13

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 1:24 PM UTC

kinleyd wrote: post #2

That is a tragically large number, and the solution seems easy enough to implement. Activism is the likely missing ingredient. Something needs to be done.

[deleted]

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#14

Post by coldarchon » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 1:49 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #3

It's a bit odd that we hear a lot more about the ~300k birds killed annually by windmills than 7 million killed by communication towers (I didn't even know about this one). I would guess because windmills are a hotter political issue.

In Germany the Green party and Greenpeace made so much trouble because of 10.000 migrating geese from Scandinavia, that a plan for the expansion of an airport had to be dismissed.

Every year 200.000 birds die in Germany because of windmills ..

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#15

Post by tocomment » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 1:53 PM UTC

I wonder at what point natural selection will start taking effect?

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#16

Post by zecho » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 2:05 PM UTC

tocomment wrote: post #15

I wonder at what point natural selection will start taking effect?

Seeing as how moths still fly into flames, it's probably going to be awhile.

Anyway, that's a shocking number, but I know it happens. I used to work at a TV station in college and once came out to my car to find a goose head on the hood. The body was a few feet away. It apparently had decapitated itself flying into the cables. My coworkers say it happens quite often during the migrations. They fly into the cables at night.

It was a bit disturbing, but made for a good meal!

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#17

Post by joshuahedlund » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 2:25 PM UTC

The methodologies described in the article seem sound to layperson like me, but do keep the last paragraph in mind:

> The study was funded in part by The Urban Wildlands Group, Environment Canada, the American Bird Conservancy and Defenders of Wildlife.

I wonder, for instance, how many total birds migrate each year and if we think communication towers are depleting those numbers. Don't get me wrong, I support common sense solutions to reducing needless bird deaths, but I also like to have context to know how much to worry about things.

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#18

Post by sneak » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 2:26 PM UTC

seabee wrote: post #12

jules wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going further, the number of birds killed for human consumption is even greater: 8.9 billion chickens in the US per year.

The difference is farmed poultry isn't an environmental concern (well, the waste they produce is, but not the birds themselves).

Neither are a few million birds too dumb to avoid guy-wires.

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#19

Post by sneak » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 2:29 PM UTC

sage goes in every field.

Re: Almost 7 million birds perish at communication towers in North America each year

#20

Post by waterlesscloud » Sat, Apr 28, 2012, 2:31 PM UTC

joshuahedlund wrote: post #17

The methodologies described in the article seem sound to layperson like me, but do keep the last paragraph in mind: > The study was funded in part by The Urban Wildlands Group, Environment Canada, the American Bird Conservancy and Defenders of Wildlife. I wonder, for instance, how many total birds migrate each year and if we think communication towers are depleting those numbers. Don't get me wrong, I support common…

Looking at the numbers they offer, it seems like it's about 1 bird per tower every 4 days.