More than 1,000 migratory birds died from injuries after crashing into enormous buildings as they passed through Chicago, bird safety advocates said.
The Windy City, located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, sits in the path of one of North America’s biggest migratory routes, making it a thoroughfare for millions of birds during the peak fall season.
Given the favorable weather in the city this month, over five million migratory birds flew in on Friday alone, Cornell Lab Bird Cast data suggested.
Chicago Bird Collision Monitors shared a heartbreaking photo of dead birds sealed in plastic bags, noting how skyscrapers killed many of the flock.
About 25 of the group's volunteers met on Saturday to collect injured or dead birds around downtown Chicago and at the Northwestern University campus in nearby Evanston.
‘We were out from 6.00 am to sunset. We’d pick up a bird at a building, go around that building, and immediately find another. We had birds hitting the glass windows over our heads,’ Annette Prince, the organization’s director, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The non-profit organization works during migration periods from mid-March to early June and late August to mid-November to check for wounded birds among tall buildings.
The volunteers respond to calls they receive from people about the birds on a hotline number and help the little creatures in need.
Chicago Bird Collision Monitors shared a photos of dead birds sealed in tiny bags as they noted that over 1,000 migratory birds died in Chicago
The coalition said that the birds that travel during the peak season of October either get injured to die after crashing with big buildings in the city
As many as five million migratory birds flew in on Friday alone, Cornell Lab Bird Cast data suggested
Prince said the team received a lot of calls on Saturday, with the phone ringing every 30 seconds.
‘It was overwhelming, but also very rewarding that people are noticing this and reaching out,' she said.
The volunteers took over 1,000 birds to the Field Museum for research. Prince said that the number could be higher.
The injured birds that survived were taken to the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center for treatment. The team helped over 250 birds on Saturday, the outlet reported.
Prince added that many more birds that are injured or dead did not get reported.
‘It was shocking and heartbreaking to see how it can add up. These birds deserve our protection. The least we can do is give them safe passage through our area,’ the director said.
She added that the huge number of accidents is a reminder that the city needs to have better regulations for new buildings in order to save the migratory birds.
Developers can equip their new buildings with bird-safe features, including installing textured glass that birds can identify as a solid structure, Prince said.
Prince and other bird advocates, including the volunteers at Bird Friendly Chicago, have asked the city council to pass an ordinance that will require new construction to include bird-friendly protections as well.
The first attempt at this was made a decade ago.
Bird advoactes are demanding for stricter rules for new constructions to ensure that birds can see the buildings and avoid crashes
The authorities have asked the Chicago City Council to pass an ordinance that will require new construction to include bird-friendly protections inclduing textured glass
The Chicago City Council had quashed the initial attempt and did not include the bird-friendly protections in the municipal code. However, advocates said that it did raise awareness about the fact that glass kills birds.
‘Development hasn’t stopped in those cities. It’s not stopped architects from making beautiful buildings,’ Prince said. ‘Chicago can have beautiful buildings and beautiful birds, and they can all coexist.... We can’t afford to lose birds that are already struggling to survive.’
Robyn Detterline, advocacy chair with Chicago Ornithological Society and a member of Bird Friendly Chicago, told WTTW that a lot of people are working 'really hard' to keep the birds safe.
‘We’re all super motivated and we’re all super passionate, and so it’s not going to be something that fizzles out anytime soon,’ she said.
Detterline added that the organizations are not against construction.
‘We’re not anti-development, but we want the development to be sustainable,’ Detterline said. ‘We also think people deserve to live in homes that don’t kill birds. Everyone deserves to have a home that’s safe for their families and for wildlife.’
The newly drafted ordinance was sent to the Zoning Committee with a meeting scheduled for today. Detterline said she is not sure how things will move ahead.
‘We don’t know exactly when it’s going to come up for a vote, which is why we just have to keep moving and assume it could be coming up for a vote the next time around,’ Detterline said.