Get the latest tech news

Reflections of a bird collision monitor

Documenting the birds injured and killed by flying into buildings is difficult, emotionally draining work. One New York City Audubon volunteer looks to the past to find hope for the future.

Though the city is barely simmering when I start, each morning is hectic: a race against building staff who sweep up evidence of window strikes and an awakening surge of cars, pedestrians, and cyclists, as well as hungry squirrels, gulls, and curious dogs. Reports indicate that my tally was just a fraction of the citywide toll, all victims of what I learned was an unfortunate confluence of conditions: stormy, low-visibility weather; a heavy migration pulse; and brightly lit buildings serving as lethal beacons in the dark. Armed with numbers, solutions, and volunteers spread across communities, NYC Audubon has persuaded managers and owners of a wide range of buildings and sites to alter or dim their lighting and mitigate their glass, often with the simple addition of unobtrusive grid-pattern film.

Get the Android app