All-Night Vigil Protects Birds from 9/11 Lights
September 11 coincides with the fall bird migration, as birds summering in Canada and New England begin flying south for the winter. Unfortunately they can be disoriented on their journey by the powerful lights emanating from the 9/11 Tribute in Light, causing collisions and avian death.
The lights – 88 units, each containing 7,000-watt bulbs – simulate the shape of the original twin towers and reach four miles into the sky, visible from 60 miles away.
Bob Jagendorf / All About Birds
To safeguard the migrating flyers, the NYC Bird Alliance posts volunteers and researchers on the roof deck of the Battery Park Garage, where they lie on their backs and point binoculars and spotting scopes into the beams. They watch for birds circling in the light, which indicates disorientation. If the bird count approaches 1,000, they ask the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum team to turn off the lights for 15 to 20 minutes, which gives the birds enough time to reorient and resume their way south.
This year they did not need to kill the lights often. “There was just one shutdown of the lights last night, around 9:30pm when our scientists and volunteers recorded nearly 1,000 birds circling in the beams, including several flying very low,” Alliance executive director Jessica Wilson tells us in an email.
“Though we were concerned going into the evening given the high BirdCast forecast for a heavy migration night, bird activity after the lights went out was minimal. This was perhaps because of strong winds at high altitudes that were carrying the night-migrating birds along and through New York City.”
Shortly after midnight the Alliance posted on X that “Bird sightings are minimal!,” which is an odd thing for birders to be happy about but in this case it was good news. The travelers included the yellow-billed cuckoo, common nighthawk, Connecticut warbler, northern parula, and American redstart.The NYC Bird Alliance has been monitoring the situation since 2008. More info and a way to help out here.
