Current:Home > ScamsChicago exhibition center modifying windows to prevent bird strikes after massive kill last year -×
Chicago exhibition center modifying windows to prevent bird strikes after massive kill last year
View
Date:2025-04-18 08:23:19
CHICAGO (AP) — An exhibition center on Chicago’s lakefront has launched a $1.2 million effort to prevent bird strikes after hundreds of songbirds crashed into the building in one night last fall.
The McCormick Place Lakeside Center began installing film etched with tiny dots on its windows in June, the Chicago Tribune reported. The dots are designed to help birds distinguish between windows and nature. The work should be completed by early September, in time for fall migrations.
Nearly 1,000 songbirds migrating south perished in one night last October after crashing into the center’s 200 yards of windows, the result of a confluence of factors including prime migration conditions, rain and the low-slung exhibition hall’s lights and window-lined walls, according to avian experts.
Researchers estimate hundreds of millions of birds die in window strikes in the United States each year. Birds don’t see clear or reflective glass and don’t understand it is a lethal barrier. When they see plants or bushes through windows or reflected in them, they head for them, killing themselves in the process.
Birds that migrate at night, like sparrows and warblers, rely on the stars to navigate. Bright lights from buildings both attract and confuse them, leading to window strikes or birds flying around the lights until they die from exhaustion — a phenomenon known as fatal light attraction.
New York City has taken to shutting off the twin beams of light symbolizing the World Trade Center for periods of time during its annual Sept. 11 memorial ceremony to prevent birds from becoming trapped in the light shafts.
The National Audubon Society launched a program in 1999 called Lights Out, an effort to encourage urban centers to turn off or dim lights during migration months. Nearly 50 U.S. and Canadian cities have joined the movement, including Chicago, Toronto, New York, Boston, San Diego, Dallas and Miami.
veryGood! (66283)
Related
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Biden touts economic record in Chicago speech, hoping to convince skeptical public
- What is malaria? What to know as Florida, Texas see first locally acquired infections in 20 years
- China’s Summer of Floods is a Preview of Climate Disasters to Come
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- ‘Is This Real Life?’ A Wall of Fire Robs a Russian River Town of its Nonchalance
- The Challenge's Amber Borzotra Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby With Chauncey Palmer
- Ryan Mallett, former NFL quarterback, dies in apparent drowning at age 35
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- Rudy Giuliani interviewed by special counsel in Trump election interference probe
Ranking
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Young LGBTQI+ Artists Who Epitomize Black Excellence
- Can air quality affect skin health? A dermatologist explains as more Canadian wildfire smoke hits the U.S.
- Coal Mines Likely Drove China’s Recent Methane Emissions Rise, Study Says
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- 50% Rise in Renewable Energy Needed to Meet Ambitious State Standards
- Five Years After Paris, Where Are We Now? Facing Urgent Choices
- Fourth of July flight delays, cancellations contributing to summer travel woes
Recommendation
Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
How 90 Day Fiancé's Kenny and Armando Helped Their Family Embrace Their Love Story
Man faces felony charges for unprovoked attack on dog in North Carolina park, police say
American Climate Video: He Lost Almost Everything in the Camp Fire, Except a Chance Start Over.
Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
Wave of gun arrests on Capitol Hill, including for a gun in baby stroller, as tourists return
Rudy Giuliani interviewed by special counsel in Trump election interference probe
California and Colorado Fires May Be Part of a Climate-Driven Transformation of Wildfires Around the Globe