As millions of migratory birds passed through Chicago over the weekend, at least 1,000 of them ended up dead and injured after colliding into buildings.
The fall bird migration hits its peak in October, and Chicago sits along one of North America's biggest migratory paths. And thanks to favorable weather over the weekend, over 5 million migratory birds passed through Cook County Friday night alone.
About 25 volunteers with the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors were out Saturday collecting dead and injured birds, said Annette Prince, the organization's director.
"We were out from 6 a.m. to sunset," Prince said. "We'd pick up a bird at a building, go around that building, and immediately find another. We had birds hitting the glass windows over our heads."
Her group has a hotline people can call if they've found an injured bird. At one point Saturday, the phone was ringing every 30 seconds, Prince said.
"It was overwhelming, but also very rewarding that people are noticing this and reaching out," Prince said.
Volunteers collected over 1,000 birds. Dead birds are brought to the Field Museum for research. Injured birds were taken for treatment at the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center, which reported receiving over 250 birds Saturday.
While that number sounds high, those are just the ones that volunteers found. It's likely many more birds were injured or killed over the weekend, Prince said.
"It was shocking and heartbreaking to see how it can add up," Prince said. "These birds deserve our protection. ... The least we can do is give them safe passage through our area."
The weekend's toll was a reminder that there's much more Chicago can do to protect migratory birds, Prince said. Currently, developers can voluntarily choose to outfit their new buildings with bird-safe features.
One of those features is to install textured glass that birds are able to see as a solid structure. After over 1,000 birds hit McCormick Place Lakeside Center in a single night three years ago, bird-safe film was installed on the building's windows. Collisions dramatically dropped as a result.
Prince and other bird advocates are pushing Chicago's City Council to pass an ordinance requiring certain new buildings or major renovations in Chicago to include bird-friendly protections. Similar laws have been passed in New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., Prince said.
"Development hasn't stopped in those cities; it's not stopped architects from making beautiful buildings," Prince said. "Chicago can have beautiful buildings and beautiful birds, and they can all coexist. ... We can't afford to lose birds that are already struggling to survive."
