An estimate of 6.8 million birds killed per year in the US and Canada. http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0034025#s4
>From the Discussion: "In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill killed approximately 250,000 birds in what has become the benchmark for a major environmental disaster. Our estimates show that communication towers are responsible for bird deaths equivalent to more than 27 Exxon Valdez disasters each year. Our estimate of the number of birds killed annually by communication towers is 2–4 times greater than the estimate for annual fatalities from lead poisoning before lead shot was phased out for hunting waterfowl. Previous efforts and our compiled database illustrate that most of the birds killed at communication towers are Neotropical migrants, which have suffered population declines and many of which are formally recognized as “Birds of Conservation Concern” .... Mitigation of avian mortality at communication towers could most practicably be achieved by implementing several measures: 1) concomitant with permission from aviation authorities, remove steady-burning red lights from towers, leaving only flashing (not slow pulsing) red, red strobe, or white strobe lights; 2) avoid floodlights and other light sources at the bases of towers, especially those left on all night; 3) avoid guy wires where practicable; 4) minimize the number of new towers by encouraging collocation of equipment owned by competing companies; and 5) limit height of new towers when possible. Concentrating on removing steady-burning lights from the roughly 4,500 towers ≥150 m tall in the United States and Canada with such lights should be a top priority because, according to our model, it would reduce overall mortality by approximately 45% through remedial action at only 6% of lighted towers..." -- Claudia Egelhoff Minneapolis, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
