“When I groan about the Canada geese,” Mr. Phillips said, “it’s because this is way more of an important story about conservation than the geese.”In it's ongoing struggle to distance itself from the Canada Geese controversy, New York City Audubon has decided the best way to deflect its lack of commitment to saving the area's geese is to focus on another problem, bird collisions with buildings.
You may recall that local authorities want to cull the Canada Goose population in the area by putting over 170,000 birds to death. As someone who crawls through vast amounts of goose poop at Jamaica Bay's East Pond during shorebird migration, I don't hate the geese enough to wish them dead and I don't see why NYC Audubon doesn't spearhead the opposition to the plan.
Sure songbirds are important, but NYC Audubon's tepid response has been to urge visitors to their Web site to call 311 and complain to the mayor. Hardly a bold move. What about an online petition, or better yet, a symposium to focus on the problem. There are a lot of smart people in the area and I am sure and alternative to gassing the geese could be found.
In the meantime, Glenn Phillips, executive director of NYC Audubon, is hoping to shift the focus away from the goose problem. Don't get me wrong, this is a problem, but then again, so is gassing 170,000 Canada Geese.
This appeared in Wednesday's New York Times:
Dimming the Skyline to Save the Birds
By CATE DOTYNew York Times
The New York City skyline is a treacherous place for migrating birds.
More New York City skyscrapers are turning their lights off this fall in an effort to save the lives of migrating birds who might crash into them while on their way to warmer climes.Glenn Phillips, the executive director of New York City Audubon, said a half-dozen landmark skyscrapers, including the Time Warner Center, Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building, will sign on to a plan to turn off their lights at midnight. Audubon has sponsored the program since 2005, but this year has garnered the most interest, Mr. Phillips said.
Most migrating birds fly through the city between 2 and 4 a.m., and Audubon hopes that the dimmed lights will keep the birds from plowing into the buildings, a problem of each migratory season that leaves thousands of birds dead. The initiative runs from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1, the main fall migratory season.
The birds are drawn in by the glow of the city and are unable to see the miles of concrete and glass stretching into the sky, Mr. Phillips said.
“It’s not an everyday occurrence,” he said. “For the one night of the week when conditions are just right or just wrong, it can be quite deadly.”
Mr. Phillips said that collision with manmade structures is one of the chief reasons that most of the species that migrate through North America are declining. In two migratory seasons, Audubon counted 90,000 birds who were killed in collisions with buildings in New York City.
Other participants are the Bank of America building and The New York Times Building, one of the tallest glass structures in the city.
And no, the heightened response has nothing to do with the city’s geese problem.
“When I groan about the Canada geese,” Mr. Phillips said, “it’s because this is way more of an important story about conservation than the geese.”
