Tragedy Strikes :MD birding dead bodies found…Police say
for birds that crash into buildings has been vastly underestimated until now, according to new research. The study was published in the open access mega-journal PLOS One and it says wildlife agencies and organizations have been miscalculating the number of fatalities by hundreds of millions per year.
The peer-reviewed paper explains that previous research has only accounted for birds found dead or fatally wounded at the scene of the crash. However, scientists are now claiming many stunned survivors end up dying in veterinarian care or sustain serious injury, only to succumb to the elements or predation later.
“This heartbreaking study drives home how much more the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) must do to truly protect vulnerable birds from window collisions,” Tara Zuardo, a senior campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity (the Center), wrote in a press release. “This is a national problem that requires national action. It’s time for federal officials to step up to protect our birds.”
Artificial light from buildings at night can be disorientating for birds leading to collisions, while daytime reflections of the sky can cause avians to fly into them as well. To make matters worse, the scientists believe territorial behavior in breeding season may contribute to rising incidents, as some species can react to perceived threats in window reflections.
According to New Scientist magazine, most accidents occur with low-rise buildings, and the problem has worsened in recent decades with increasing light pollution.
The new paper says previous studies examining building collisions were conducted on recovered carcasses of birds that died on impact. Older numbers were tallied on the notion that more than 80 percent of collisions were thought to be immediately fatal, but the recent research suggests far fewer die on-site, hobbling or flailing away from the scene of the crash to meet their fatal ends elsewhere.
