Fledgling FLAP in New York City

Michael Mesure cannot visit any city without scouring the pavement below its tall, lit buildings for fallen birds. But New York has always been of special concern.

Scheduled to make a presentation at a Humane Society of the United States conference last fall, Mike hooked up with Rebekah Creshkoff and Allison Sloan to see just how bad the situation was in Manhattan.

Rebekah began her rescue work four years ago. Ned Boyajian and Allison joined her a couple of years later and then more volunteers came on board. As a result more migration days were "covered" and considerably more birds (1,027) picked up last year.

But New York rescue work presents its own challlenges: far more buildings than in Toronto and no car owners among the rescuers who can whisk the birds away to a distant release site. Rebekah and her colleagues walk or cycle to nearby parks to release birds. (Toronto's Marc Klein does his rescue work by bike too, but he's a special case.) It's not surprising that these bird-loving New Yorkers can monitor only a dozen of the buildings (six acres worth!) likely implicated in bird strikes. Michael was determined to find more.

On two separate mornings Mike led the group to new buildings and out-of-the-way corners they hadn't had time or manpower to check. Allison was amazed at Michael's expert eye for picking out potential trouble spots. "He reminded me of a cat," she said, "always delivering a bag of dead birds when he returned."

More than 50 birds were picked up each day, much the same species as in Toronto, with the exception of the Prairie Warbler and Orchard Oriole found in New York. Over four years 1,830 birds have been collected by FLAP's New York chapter. The project, which is still searching for a unique name, is sponsored by the New York City Audubon Society (NYCAS). To their credit, the group's achievements - and influence - extend far beyond rescuing birds.

It all started with an article Ned wrote for the NYCAS newsletter. Chris Zeppie from the Office of Policy and Planning of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - which owns the twin-towered World Trade Center - read it, arranged a meeting with the group and readily agreed to erect netting over the eastern face of 2 World Trade Center. The taut, springy nets went up in August, 2000 and considerably lessened the number of birds killed there. The volunteers have seen these "trampolines" at work as birds headed for the glass bounce off them unharmed. A few were found under the netting though, suggesting that it needs to be extended at least another storey's worth at the top, high enough to outdistance the London Planetree growing close by. The other problem is that high winds around the building have been tearing the bottom part of the netting from its moorings underlining the need for more supports.

Given the success of this "experiment", the Port Authority has agreed to cover more of the windows this spring. They will also turn off the floodlights of the communications antenna on the roof of 1 World Trade Center during migration.

Management at the Empire State Building have likewise agreed to switch off their decorative lights - which go off automatically at midnight - whenever asked. The lights-out request was prompted by a report of "several hundred" birds swarming around the tower mesmerized by the coloured lights.

Not content to rest on their laurels though, Rebekah and her group plan to target the all-glass Winter Garden at the World Financial Center next.

In the meantime, Michael will be investigating other cities to see what dangers they have in store for birds.