Towers, Towers Everywhere This is beginning to sound like a broken record - tall, lit structures of all shapes and sizes, be they lighthouses, office buildings, monuments, transmission towers or oil rigs in mid-ocean, can cause injury or death for untold numbers of night-migrating birds. Better a broken record, though, than broken birds, so we at FLAP continue to play the same tune! Our burgeoning human population means continued, even accelerated, construction of tall towers. The good news: more of the people who can make a difference are focusing on the issue and change may happen soon. Take the communications industry as an example. Deregulation in the industry along with the advent of cellular phones and digital TV have brought on a rapid proliferation of new communications towers. In fact, whereas tower construction proceeded at the rate of about 1000 per year from the mid-70s to the 90s, it has now grown to over 5000 new towers built annually in the United States. There are at least 75,000 towers 200 feet and higher in the U.S. according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In southern Ontario, a current Department of Natural Resources map shows 725 aeronautical obstructions over 150 feet tall. The problem is that the towers' blinking lights (required for aircraft safety) draw in night migrants who circle the tower striking the supporting guy wires. The American Ornithologists' Union estimates that two to four million birds are killed in these collisions in eastern North America every year. Ornithologist Bill Evans is one of the scientists spearheading a major effort to mitigate the problem. He participated in a recent meeting organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service involving representatives from the FAA, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), concerned scientists and mediators. Having long denied their responsibility for the problem, the FCC has finally "put the issue on their radar", as Bill phrases it. He's hopeful they will take their lead from the electric power industry. When power lines first went up, raptors landing on the poles were electrocuted. The industry ultimately took the initiative and sought out a solution. The tower collision problem may not be an easy one to solve, however. Lighting appears to be implicated in 95% of bird mortality at towers but scientists are still trying to determine what it is about the light - its colour, intensity or other properties - that entraps birds. That hasn't stopped ornithologists from suggesting solutions, though. Of course, these solutions must take into account the fact that towers are lit at night so that pilots can see them. One idea that has merit involves equipping each aircraft with a radio transponder which would allow pilots to receive automatic warning when there is danger of striking a tower, eliminating the need for lights. Other methods have been in use for many years with encouraging results. One such was instituted at the Manistee National Forest in Michigan. In 1991 the lighting on a 1000-foot plus TV tower on high terrain was modified by altering the flash sequence and duration of tower lights. Studies had shown that a lighting pattern which resulted in constant illumination of the area had higher mortality than a similar tower whose beacons were totally dark between flashes. During that period of complete darkness the circling birds could reorient themselves and leave the lit area. The five-year study that followed the implementation of this system showed a marked reduction in birds found. When communications towers first went up in the late 1940s ornithologists and bird lovers were stunned to learn that the towers posed a fatal threat to migrating songbirds. Deaths at lighthouses had been noted for centuries, but no one anticipated that tall TV towers would be even more deadly. Numerous studies over the decades have proven this to be true, but only recently has the communications industry started to take action. Not a moment too soon. For more information about this issue visit the Internet site: www.towerkill.com.