Project Safe Flight Update: November 12^th, 2005

by Nicole Delacretaz

Hello everyone,

What a week!! During these past few days, birds have been found all over town in massive amounts. I guess we can call it peak migration since 147 birds were found dead or injured since last Thursday, October 20th. The bird-watching was equally intense, whether in Manhattan or in other areas around the city. I hope you all got to witness this amazing phenomenon.

The week in numbers

As mentioned, we had 147 collisions since the last update. This number, although large, bring us to 343 collisions for this season, which is below last year’s total for the same period. This supports our previous assumption that migration was slightly delayed because of bad weather conditions.

This week’s numbers include:

- 112 dead birds
- 35 injured birds
- 24 identified species

Main species found:

- Ruby-crowned Kinglets 27 (18 dead and 9 injured)
- White-throated Sparrows 19 (17 dead and 2 injured)
- Golden-crowned kinglets 16 (13 dead and 3 injured)
- Dark-eyed Juncos 11 (9 dead and 2 injured)

Other birds include sparrows, creepers, thrushes and woodpeckers with some warblers still around. Four warbler species were found – the Black-and-white Warbler, the Magnolia Warbler, the Ovenbird and the Mourning Warbler. Another warbler was found, the Yellow-rumped Warbler. This warbler is the only one who will winter here, so we’ll have the chance to see it again. Also, a Virginia Rail was found at the WFC, a fairly uncommon bird (at least in Manhattan!)

Painting of Virginia Rails by John James Audubon

Bird kill zones

Morgan Mail still beats all the known bird-kill zones and is responsible for 52 collisions this week. Then comes the WFC areas with 30 collisions, the Jacob Javits Center with 22, and finally the MET with 20 collisions.

Migration and weather

Below, you will find a graph showing the number of collisions, by day, during October. This graph again suggests that the bad weather literally halted migration for a few days, causing an upsurge in the days following the storm.

Mini-science at Morgan Mail

As mentioned in the last update, we put together a last minute mini-study at Morgan Mail from Tuesday, October 18th to Thursday, October 20th. I haven’t received all the data yet but know that these three days have been busy. About 25 birds were recovered from Morgan Mail’s southern side walk, averaging more than 8 birds a day. More about this subject in next week’s update.

Numbers for this season

The numbers have risen considerably since the last update. We now have 343 reported collisions:
- 284 dead birds
- 59 injured birds
- 62 identified species

Main species found:
- Ruby-crowned Kinglets 34 (23 dead and 11 injured)
- White-throated Sparrows 26 (21 dead and 5 injured)
- Golden-crowned kinglets 21 (16 dead and 5 injured)
- Dark-eyed Juncos 14 (12 dead and 2 injured)

Collisions at the bird kill zones find Morgan Mail with 126 collisions. Then comes the MET with 60 collisions, WFC with 56, and then the Jacob Javits Center with 48 collisions. Of course some sites were monitored more than others, a fact that will be taken into account in a more thorough analysis.

Thanks you all for your hard work during this busy season.

Take care,

Nicole