The changes will be most significant for 13 species of conservation concern, including neo-tropical migratory birds such as Yellow Rails, Swainson’s Warblers, Pied-billed Grebes and Prairie Warblers. Not only will this save tower operators electricity and money, it should reduce the number of bird fatalities around those towers by between 50 and 70 percent. This December, after several years of work by a broad range of conservationists, the Federal Aviation Administration finally announced new guidelines that will allow towers to turn off those solid red lights and replace them with flashing red lights which don’t attract birds the same way. The lights undoubtedly save human lives (preventing plane collisions), but for birds they can be deadly.īut a new solution might protect birds and people. The birds, it turns out, are attracted by the same solid red lights that alert passing aircraft to the towers’ presence. Okay, that's not exactly true, but an estimated 7 million birds do die every year when they fly into the thick cables known as guy wires that hold up tall radio or TV communication towers.

Did you know that every time you turn on the radio or TV a bird dies?

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