Hundreds of birds crash into NYC skyscraper

Hundreds of birds migrating through New York City over the week from Sept. 13 died after crashing into the city’s glass towers, a mass casualty event spotlighted by a New York City Audubon volunteer’s tweets showing the World Trade Center littered with bird carcasses. The week’s avian death toll was particularly high, but bird strikes on Manhattan skyscrapers are a persistent problem that NYC Audubon has documented for years, said Kaitlyn Parkins, the group’s associate director of conservation and science. Stormy weather on Sept. 13 into Sept. 14 contributed to the deaths, she said. “We had a big storm and sort of weird weather and lots of birds, and that’s sort of the perfect combination that can lead to bird-window collisions,” Parkins said. Melissa Breyer, the volunteer who tweeted about finding nearly 300 birds on sidewalks surrounding the new World Trade Center towers, said the experience was “overwhelming.” “As soon as I got to the buildings, the birds were everywhere ... the sidewalks were literally covered with birds,” Breyer said. (AP) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.