Project Safe Flight Update: October 12th, 2005

by Nicole Delacretaz



Dear PSF friends and Volunteers,

I want to take this opportunity to remind all volunteers to keep a record of the hours you spend in the field. This is important for research purposes, and I will be asking for this information at the end of the season. Thank you in advance for doing this.

Now, on to this week’s news. After a rainy weekend, there were only 8 collisions, all fatal. This low number is largely explained by the bad weather we had this week. While bad weather is known to increases nighttime collisions, it actually seems to reduce day time collisions considerably. This low number further suggests that most collisions in Manhattan take place during the day.

This week we found:

Northern Flicker





Midtown
One Northern Flicker– Dead






Photo© Cal Vornberger

Magnolia Warbler





MET
One Magnolia Warbler – Dead






Photo© Cal Vornberger

White-throated Sparrow


MET
One White-throated Sparrow – Dead




Photo© Cal Vornberger

Wood Thrush





MET
One Wood Thrush – Dead






Photo© Cal Vornberger

Black-throated Blue Warbler





Morgan Mail
One Black-throated Blue Warbler - Dead






Photo© Cal Vornberger

Northern Parula





Morgan Mail
One Northern Parula – Dead






Photo© Cal Vornberger

Lincoln’s Sparrow


WFC
One Lincoln’s Sparrow – Dead




Photo© Steve Nanz

The ninth bird was an unidentified warbler found dead at the MET.

Our totals for this season:

118 birds

106 dead birds

12 injured ones

Regarding the science program, this Sunday marked the last day of a four day study. While we are still waiting for some data to be returned to the office, we know that bird collisions at the bird kill zones were extremely low. The program itself was a real success, given the number of participants and the 60 time slots covered; we look forward with great enthusiasm to repeating this study next spring.

Again, thanks to all who took part in this study.



Cheers,



Nicole