US skyscrapers kill up to 1bn birds a year

[Still Waters]

Scientists estimate that at least 100 million and maybe as many as a billion birds die each year in the US when they collide with buildings, especially glass-covered or illuminated skyscrapers. And, in a new report, conservationists now have a better idea which American cities are the deadliest for those on the wing.

Chicago, with its many glass superstructures that spike into what is the busiest US avian airspace during migration, is the most dangerous city for those feathered travelers. More than 5 million birds from at least 250 different species fly through the Windy City’s downtown every fall and spring.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/07/how-many-birds-killed-by-skyscrapers-american-cities-report

[Big Jim]

Waiting for AOC to demand they all be torn down.

[AllPossible]

"Then they'll slam into the glass, and then they die."  Well you don't say

[Rolci]

Well, I don't live in a country with skyscrapers so I wouldn't know, but are there heaps of dead birds at the bottom of these skyscrapers every morning then, all around and by the entrance, like some kind of mass grave?

[+and-then]

2 hours ago, Rolci said:

Well, I don't live in a country with skyscrapers so I wouldn't know, but are there heaps of dead birds at the bottom of these skyscrapers every morning then, all around and by the entrance, like some kind of mass grave?

An Den?  An What?  I have no particular hatred for any living creature but I also have other things to worry about than unfortunate birds...

[JoshuaTheOracle]

This is very concerning. In addition to other issues accelerating the depopulation of birds, we may end up with the Mao Zedong effect. Without a balanced number of natural predators for incests, we can see farming impacted, and the ecological balance of the food chain knocked pretty harshly. The results, of course, can be simulated, we may not even know the full extent of what the eventuality is we do not find a solution for an ultra-infrastructured civilization to co-exist with nature

[marsman]

46 minutes ago, JoshuaTheOracle said:

Without a balanced number of natural predators for incests,

 

what a typo.....

[Habitat]

Seriously doubt these figures, if a billion birds died flying into tall buildings, the ground around them would show the evidence.

[aztek]

as someone who works with skyscraper in Manhattan, for almost 2 decades i do not buy it for a second.   if this was the case, our cleaner crews would be picking up dozens if not hundreds of dead birds a day, but they do not, 

Edited April 8, 2019 by aztek

[aztek]

22 hours ago, Rolci said:

Well, I don't live in a country with skyscrapers so I wouldn't know, but are there heaps of dead birds at the bottom of these skyscrapers every morning then, all around and by the entrance, like some kind of mass grave?

nope, nothing like that

[Big Jim]

Even if this was true, I wonder what the breakdown is in birds per building.  Also breakdown by species.  I imagine the majority would be pigeons, since they seem to be the dominant bird in urban environments.  In general they are a nuisance so other than the mess it would be no great loss.

[marsman]

US skyscrapers kill up to 1bn birds a year

 

meanwhile billions more birds are born....

[fred_mc]

That would be about 30 birds per second crashing into US skyscrapers, pretty astounding.