Hundreds Of Dead Migratory Birds In New York City Prompt Calls For Dimming Lights

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This photo provided by Melissa Breyer shows some of the dead birds collected in the vicinity of New York’s World Trade Center on Tuesday.

Melissa Breyer/AP

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Melissa Breyer/AP

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Big Cities, Bright Lights And Up To 1 Billion Bird Collisions

«When you have 226 dead window-struck migratory birds from one morning, it’s hard to get them all in one photo,» she wrote on Twitter, with a picture showing dozens of birds, many of them warblers, in all shades of yellow, brown and grey.

«Lights can be turned off, windows can be treated. Please do something,» she pleaded.

In New York City, between 90,000 and 230,000 birds are killed each year when they collide with building glass, according to research by NYC Audubon, the group that runs «Project Safe Flight,» the volunteer operation Breyer participated in.

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An aerial view shows One World Trade Center and the Manhattan skyline.

Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

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Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

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Wild Bird Fund, a rehabilitation center based in New York, received more than 70 injured birds on Tuesday, including the ones collected by Breyer.

«There is an easy measure that could be implemented today to reduce the staggering bird mortality happening across our city: Turn off all unnecessary lighting, from 11PM-6AM through Nov. 16,» the group tweeted.

The World Trade Center responded to Breyer’s tweets, thanking her for bringing the issue to the facility’s attention.

«We are actively encouraging our office tenants to turn off their lights at night and lower their blinds wherever possible and are investigating additional precautions,» the company wrote.

Jordan Barowitz, a spokesperson for the Durst Organization, co-developer of One World Trade Center, told The Associated Press in an email, «The first 200 feet of One WTC are encased in glass fins that are non-reflective. This design was chosen because it greatly reduces bird strikes which mostly occur below 200 feet and are frequently caused by reflective glass.»