Nearly 1,000 birds were killed in a single night in October when they collided with an illuminated glass building in Chicago. Though mass fatalities of this magnitude are rare, light pollution poses a serious – and growing – threat to migrating birds.
In the largest study of its kind, published in Nature Communications, scientists used weather radar data to map bird stopover density in the United States and found that artificial light is a top indicator of where birds will land. City lights lure birds into what can be an ecological trap, said lead author Kyle Horton, an assistant professor in Colorado State University’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology.
Buildings that lead to collisions, less habitat, scarcer food and more people and cats can make cities less-than-ideal rest stops for migrating birds. Urban parks can be decent stopover sites, but birds that rest there might need to compete over limited resources.
Read more at Colorado State University
Image: Rose-breasted grosbeaks like this one were among the nearly 1,000 birds that died in a single night in October after colliding with the McCormick Place Convention Center building in Chicago. (Photo credit by Kyle Horton)