America hopes to cut toll of 50m migrating birds killed by phone masts

The Guardian (U.K.) ^ | 08/22/03 | Paul Brown

[Pokey78]

A federal investigation has been launched into the plight of up to 50 million migratory birds killed each year by mobile phone and broadcast masts strung across the US. The communications commission has a legal duty to minimise the environmental effect of the hundreds of thousands of masts spread across the country. At some masts located on migratory routes, thousands of birds have been recorded as being killed in a single night.

The commission, which also has the duty to enable the best available communication, is taking on the issue in an effort to manage the expansion of masts in a way that "best preserves the country's environmental resources".

The agency will work with the US fish and wildlife service to look at why migratory birds fly into masts. There are 836 species of birds which migrate in the US and 350 of those are recorded as being vulnerable to being killed by the masts.

The commission says certain factors - such as mast height, lighting systems, type of antenna support structure, and location - may affect the hazards posed to migratory birds.

There does not appear to be systematic research or an adequate scale to measure exactly how and to what extent, if at all, these factors contribute to any risk to the birds.

The scientific team is particularly concerned about whether lighting of various sorts and colours may attract birds, particularly at night, in fog or bad weather. It also wants to discover if any successful mitigation measures have been tried.

The issue of survival of migratory species stirs a folk memory in the US because of the fate of the passenger pigeon. This bird was remarkable in the 19th century for the staggering numbers which flew at tree height, north in spring and south in autumn. Its numbers were so great that migratory flocks were said to block out the sun.

Each year nets were held high to catch huge numbers for a twice annual feast and hundreds of thousands more were shot. The harvest seemed endless.

However, by the early 20th century the passenger pigeon was extinct, partly because of the biannual slaughter. The loss of the forests in which it nested was thought to be another factor.

This inquiry is part of the commission's environmental and historic preservation action plan to avoid the mast problem affecting historic sites, Indian land and the environment.

[Voltage]

Put huge nets covering the towers that they can bounce off of without getting hurt.

Tower climbers could also slip down them like they do in the circus.

It could be fun!

[Blzbba]

50 MILLION birds?!

Somehow, I find this number to be ridiculous. At that rate, all migratory birds would've disappeared by now.

Has anyone ever seen a dead migratory bird of any reason, much less the phone tower one stated here?

I mean, shouldn't 50,000,000 dead birds be kinda visible?

[knarf]

Methinks the Guardian doth smoketh too much crack.

[kimmie7]

Someone should notify NARAL and all their cronies about this. The poor birdies!!!!! /sarcasm

[Welsh Rabbit]

Whadda ya mean? We lose 40,000 species of animals a year. I saw it in a textbook, so it must be true.../sarcasm off

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[Atlas Sneezed]

Considering that these towers are far less prevalent that electrical and phone wires, I think this is just another "perils of modern technology" bunch of junk.

50 million is awfully small, when you consider that this is less than the number of squirrels that live in the Lake Tahoe Basin! (Which is NOT famous for its squirrels!)

[Verginius Rufus]

Talk about a misleading headline...I thought it was going to be about birds that measure 50 meters wingtip to wingtip.

[jimkress]

I agree. These people are obviously Liberals. They count like 1, 2, 3, 40 million, 50 million ...

[Looking for Diogenes]

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that as many as 40 million birds are killed each year in these collisions nationwide."

That and other relevant information:
American Bird Conservancy

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[FreedomPoster]

Do birds routinely crash into trees and kill themselves? Don't they generally have pretty good eyesight?

The number in that link is 60,000 towers nationwide. At 40 million bird kills, that's over 600 kills per tower, or around two a day per tower.

It just seems unlikely to me, on the face of it. And I don't trust governmental agencies to not have an over-the-top, extreme enviralmentalist agenda.

[Carry_Okie]

It just seems unlikely to me, on the face of it. And I don't trust governmental agencies to not have an over-the-top, extreme enviralmentalist agenda.

Quotes relevant to your thesis from the paper citec in the article:

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimates that four to five million birds are killed annually at such towers, although this could be as many as 40 million. You are correct. The RICOnuts exaggerate.A meeting of the Research Committee was held on April 17, 2000 and hosted by ABC, at which leading scientists on this issue worked to develop a research protocol and appointed sub-committees to further develop these research strategies. Tower industry companies and some environmental groups funded the meeting and are funding the subsequent meeting of the full CTWG. Tom Muir of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy moderated the meeting that produced a plan for ascertaining why birds are killed at towers and what mitigation measures can be employed. Once the research protocol is approved by the full CTWG, a funding committee will seek the monies to complete the research with the goal of ascertaining what mitigation measures can be employed to end or greatly reduce avian mortality at towers. They have little idea why the birds hit the towers much less know what to do about it. What they do know is that it usually happens at night and the largest number of affected species are warblers.

It also looks like they'll drag this out for what it's worth but they do have the right people involved. I would guess it's a real problem only where large numbers of birds congregate. Hawk Mountain is such a place and they may have a real beef.

[sergeantdave]

We poor country folks camp under mobile phone masts each Friday and catch the feathered bounty with regards from the phone company. This feast provides us with plenty of meat for the week as condors, dodos, awks, pterodactyls and winged griffins and harpies tumble into our pots.

SAVE THE MASTS!

[Servant of the Nine]

Hire the people from "While You Were Out" "Trading Spaces" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" to decorate the towers. Birds in the other hemisphere would wince and turn away from them.

So9