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Portada del sitio > Fauna > COMMUNICATION TOWERS: A DEADLY HAZARD TO BIRDS

REPORT DOCUMENTS A REPORT COMPILED BY AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY JUNE, 2000 KILLING OF 230 BIRD SPECIES

COMMUNICATION TOWERS: A DEADLY HAZARD TO BIRDS

Jueves 3 de agosto de 2006 · 2423 lecturas

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There are over 77,000 communications towers in the US, which provide nationwide coverage for
cellular telephone, television and radio, paging, messaging, wireless data and other industries.
Nearly 50,000 of these towers are required by the Federal Communications Commission to be lit,
either because they are over 199 ft. tall, are in the immediate vicinity of an airport, or are situated
along major highway travel routes. About 5,000 new towers are currently being built each year
but this rate is expected to increase with developing cellular telephone and digital television networks.
Bird kills caused by towers, their guy wires and related structures have been documented
for over 50 years but there has been insufficient investigation of the extent of tower kills and
which species have been affected. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimates that
four to five million birds are killed annually at such towers, although this could be as many as 40
million. However only a cumulative impacts study will answer that question. This report analyzes
149 documents describing tower kills, 47 of which provide data on both the numbers and
species of birds killed at selected towers. No such analysis has been done before. While
USFWS indicates that nearly 350 species of neotropical songbirds are vulnerable to collisions
with tall structures, this report reveals that 230 species of birds have been documented as being
killed at towers, over one quarter of all avian species found in the US. Most birds killed are
neotropical migratory songbirds which migrate at night when their navigation systems seem to be
confused by the tower lights, particularly in bad weather. This report further documents that 52
of these 230 species killed at towers are on either the USFWS’s most recent Nongame Birds of
Management Concern (a.k.a. Species of Management Concern) List (SMC) or the Partners in
Flight (PIF) Watch List. This means that 52 species that are in decline and need special management
attention are killed at towers. One of these species, Tennessee Warbler, is the third most
commonly killed bird at towers. One species, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, is listed as Endangered.
Swainson’s Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Bachman’s Sparrow and Henslow’s Sparrow, all
listed as Extremely High Priority on the PIF Watch List, were documented being killed in large
numbers at towers (see p. 5 for an explanation of the USFWS SMC List and PIF Watch List). A
total of approximately 545,250 birds were documented as killed at the tower sites during the periods
of study, however, these numbers are just the smallest tip of a much larger iceberg, as most
studies were sporadically conducted and many studies lasted for only a few days of one year.
This document clearly demonstrates that towers kill many migratory birds, and over one fifth of
these species are in need of conservation because of dwindling numbers and limited habitat.
Mortality at communication towers is another threat to healthy populations of songbirds. This
report illustrates the need for further research to determine the exact cause of bird deaths at towers,
and how lighting systems and other aspects of tower construction and operation may be
modified to avoid such mortality.
ABC is a central participant in the Communication Tower Working Group (CTWG), which is
chaired by USFWS and consists of representatives from government agencies, telecommunication,
broadcasting and tower industries, scientists and conservation agencies. The CTWG is attempting,
through research, to ascertain mitigation measures that can be applied to towers to
avoid such large-scale avian mortality.