David Willard, a retired bird division collections manager at the Chicago Field Museum, has been checking the grounds of Chicago’s lakefront exhibition center for dead birds for 40 years. However, on Thursday morning, he made a horrific discovery – hundreds of dead songbirds so densely packed together that they resembled a carpet.
The cause of this devastating event, according to avian experts, was a deadly combination of optimal migration conditions, rain, and the exhibition hall’s low windows and bright lights. During the night, nearly 1,000 songbirds collided with the McCormick Place Lakeside Center, resulting in their untimely demise.
This image, provided by the Chicago Field Museum, displays the bodies of migrating birds that were found following this tragic event on October 5, 2023.
Willard described the scene as a shocking outlier compared to the usual number of bird strikes they encounter. Normally, they would find zero to 15 dead birds, but never anything on the scale of what occurred that night.
Research estimates that hundreds of millions of birds die from window strikes in the United States annually. A study conducted by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014 placed the number between 365 million and 988 million.
Window strikes are a common issue in almost every major city. Birds are unable to perceive clear or reflective glass as a lethal barrier and often collide with windows while aiming for plants or bushes they see through or reflected in them. This lack of awareness leads to their unfortunate demise.
Migrating birds, such as sparrows and warblers, rely on the stars to navigate during their nighttime journeys. However, bright lights from buildings both attract and confuse them, resulting in window strikes or birds flying around the lights until they succumb to exhaustion – a phenomenon referred to as fatal light attraction. For instance, in 2017, nearly 400 passerines became disoriented in a Galveston, Texas skyscraper’s floodlights and died due to collisions with windows.
According to Matt Igleski, the executive director of the Chicago Audubon Society, this type of event is unfortunately common during spring and fall migration in almost every major city. Though the strikes at McCormick Place were catastrophic, they are just one example of the ongoing issue nationwide.
The conditions on Wednesday evening were ideal for a massive wave of songbird migration over Chicago. Stan Temple, a retired wildlife ecology professor and avian expert, explained that small songbirds typically feed during the day and migrate at night to avoid turbulence and predators. However, the unusually warm southern winds during September delayed their departure. With the arrival of a front on Wednesday evening, thousands of birds took flight, eager to make their journey south.
These birds flew south over Chicago, following the Lake Michigan shoreline and encountering a labyrinth of illuminated structures. As pre-dawn rain forced them to fly at lower altitudes, they found themselves facing the lit windows at McCormick Place. According to the field museum’s count, 964 birds perished at the center – a significantly higher number than what has been found in the last four decades. The museum reported that 33 different species were affected, with the majority being palm and yellow-rumped warblers.
Fortunately, window strikes and fatal light attraction are easily preventable. Anna Pidgeon, an avian ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explained that building managers can simply dim their lights, while architects can design windows with bird-friendly markings. Additionally, individuals can add screens, paint their windows, or apply decals to the glass to make it more visible to birds.
Various cities, including New York, Toronto, Boston, San Diego, Dallas, Miami, and Chicago, have participated in the Lights Out program. This initiative encourages urban centers to turn off or dim lights during migration months to prevent bird strikes. New York City, for example, shuts off the twin beams of light symbolizing the World Trade Center during its annual Sept. 11 memorial ceremony to avoid trapping birds. While Chicago also participates in Lights Out, the city council has yet to implement the bird safety measures required by an ordinance passed in 2020.
Cynthia McCafferty, a spokesperson for McCormick Place, confirmed the center’s participation in Lights Out and stated that interior lighting is turned off when the building is unoccupied. She also mentioned that the center maintains a six-acre bird sanctuary. However, she was unsure of the timing of the window strikes or whether the center was occupied at that time.
In describing the exhibition center, Willard remarked that when it was built, bird safety was not a priority in architecture. He emphasized that this event is a tragic reminder of humans’ impact on birds and their environment. The incident is both incredibly sad and dramatic.
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