Conscious Choice: Chicago: The O'Hare for Migratory Birds

July 2000

Chicago: The O'Hare for Migratory Birds

by Mary Boldan

The abandoned industrial sites and garbage dumps that surround the Lake Calumet region serve as a reminder that industrial progress does not come without cost. However, despite its intense industrial activity, this area remains a critical stopover for migratory birds and offers perhaps the greatest concentration of threatened and endangered species in Illinois, including the black-crowned night, great egret, double-crested cormorant, and pied-billed grebes, as well as one of the few yellow-headed blackbird colonies in Illinois.

Situated as it is at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, Chicago is a natural stopover for more than seven million birds, including birds as diverse as the red-tailed hawk and the Connecticut warbler, which fly along the western shore of Lake Michigan as they travel to nesting grounds as far north as the Arctic tundra. Chicago offers a unique environment for birds that shy away from expanses of open water and fly instead along rivers and shorelines. Carl Korschgen, a supervising wildlife biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in La Crosse, Wisconsin, adds "Chicago is a good resting place because the jet stream pushes the birds east of the Mississippi River."

Hoping to preserve and restore significant natural areas like Lake Calumet, as well as create new habitats, on March 25 of this year Mayor Richard Daley joined forces with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and signed the Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds. According to the Mayor, "The treaty is an important addition to our ongoing efforts through Nature Chicago to create open space, enhance habitats, and give Chicagoans the opportunity to appreciate [what it’s like] to be stewards of the natural environment." Daley sees the migratory bird treaty as extending Chicago’s environmental awareness. "These beautiful and wild creatures are an incredible natural resource," he says.

How Does It Work?

The Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds provides a framework to support initiatives that will improve the area’s ability to sustain bird populations. The treaty, which carries with it a $100,000 matching grant, commits the USFWS to a long-term partnership with Chicago in customizing an action plan for enhancing, supporting, and promoting bird habitat, bird migration, and awareness of birds in the Chicago area.

Activities built around the treaty and medium and long-term planning for these goals have been devised by a number of people working in a series of committees under the general leadership of John Rogner of the Fish and Wildlife Service, and Suzanne Malec, Assistant Commissioner for Natural Resources for the Chicago Department of Environment.

According to Malec, "Planning teams composed of partners of Chicago Wilderness, (Chicago Audubon Society, Bird Conservation Network, the Field Museum, and others), have begun developing the following goals and objectives:"

• Policies include identifying key habitat areas such as rivers, cemeteries, and parks, as well as developing or adapting a palette of trees, shrubs, and perennial species that will be planted in these areas. The partners will launch a campaign to educate Chicago area homeowners about bird-friendly spaces in their backyards.

• On-the-ground projects will focus on rehabilitating bird habitats along the lakefront at Montrose Point, the bird sanctuary at the foot of Addison Street, North Pond in Lincoln Park, and Paul Douglas Bird Sanctuary on Wooded Island in Jackson Park. In addition, six new wildlife gardens and four demonstration lagoon rehabilitations will promote wetland and bird habitats in 2000.

• Outreach Program includes bird walks and bird house monitoring, as well as plans to distribute bird conservation packets to Chicago public schools. On May 13, International Migratory Day, the Chicago Wilderness partners offered nature walks, public events, and education activities to inform the public about the benefits and needs of urban migratory birds.

While 80 percent of Americans live in urban settings, many think of nature in terms of vast open spaces somewhere "out there." However, nature is everywhere, even among the towering building and concrete sidewalks. Just a few miles from the high-rises of the city is Montrose Harbor, which is one of the best urban birding spots in the nation; birdwatchers there occasionally spot seventy-five species at the peak of migration. Yet, urban birds are among the nation’s most vulnerable bird group.

According to a recent breeding bird survey conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Fish and Wildlife Service, only 31 percent of urban bird species are increasing in their population. Migratory birds face serious challenges and are in decline because of habitat loss, environmental contaminants, and collisions with building structures.

The last is of particular concern to many Chicago birders. Recent evidence shows that collisions with glass may be a major source of avian mortality. More than 100 million birds die each year due to collisions with human-built structure across North America. The majority of nocturnal hits occur from mid-March through early June, and again from mid-August through mid-November.

"Over the twenty-plus years that I have worked at the Field Museum, over 150 species of birds have been brought in that died by running into city buildings, says David Willard, collection manager of birds at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. "Among these are the song sparrow, ovenbirds, white-throated sparrow, as well as well the ruby-throated hummingbirds and mallards and Cooper’s hawks. Birds extremely rare in Illinois have included the painted bunting, lark bunting, brewer’s sparrow, and black rail."

In most cases, window collision is the result of mistaken identity. A bird perceives its own reflection as a competitor and attempts to drive it away by attacking the window. However, the story differs with small native birds, particularly songbirds, that migrate at night. Guided in part by the constellations, these nocturnal migrants are lured to the lights shining through office buildings, broadcast towers, and lighthouses. These structures serve as death traps, pulling birds off track and causing them either to strike the window or to flutter about the lights until they drop from exhaustion.

Collisions usually begin shortly after midnight and occur in all kinds of weather, including heavy rain, foggy nights, and strong winds. Some of the collisions merely stun the birds, which revive a couple hours later. Others cause head trauma, broken beaks, and feather damage. The nights that produce few casualties are clear, with a full moon. On those nights the birds fly at higher altitudes and are able to avoid the towers. Up to now, Chicago has not had any particular program to counter the problem, though some individual buildings have modified their light regimens at night and have reduced mortality somewhat.

According to Jessica Rio, Public Information Officer for the Chicago Department of Environment, "The working group of organizations (Chicago Department of Environment, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Chicago Park District, Chicago Audubon Society, Chicago Ornithological Society, Bird Conservation Network, and others) that helped write the treaty also will help implement its features, including a project to ask building owners to dim their lights during migration season." They are starting by seeking voluntary action (the John Hancock Building has already been cooperating). The Mayor also said at the treaty signing that he was asking his lighting committee to collaborate on the matter with his nature and wildlife committee.

What Can Building Owners Or Property Managers Do?

To address the bird fatalities caused by window collisions, residents of Toronto, Ontario, formed the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) in April, 1993. During migration season FLAP volunteers patrol Toronto’s downtown area in the early morning hours to rescue live birds and collect the dead ones. As awareness of this problem grows, FLAP offers the following advice for building owners, managers, and others who want to make their buildings bird-friendly:

• Urge building management to develop a light policy for the entire building. Designate a senior executive who will be responsible for ensuring that the building takes action.

• Investigate the current night-lighting practices of the building and adopt lower intensity lighting.

• Establish a lighting policy that strives for minimal lighting at night all year long.

• If you work in an office tower, turn off the lights or close the blinds when you leave for the day.

• Inform employees and the building police about the issue, including the steps the building is taking and how the employees can help. Remind employees each spring and fall about the added importance of minimal lighting during peak migrating seasons.

What To Do If You Find An Injured Or Dead Bird

According to David Willard, "If people find dead birds they can get them to the Field Museum which has the permits to receive them. It is illegal to possess migratory birds without a permit. The case of injured birds is a little harder. When I find a bird that is just stunned by hitting glass, I try to move it to a place where there are bushes so that it can recover, making sure to get it away from places where it might be stepped on or run over. If it is more seriously injured, there are wildlife rehabilitation centers that try to help birds recover."

What Can Homeowners Do?

Like owners of larger buildings, homeowners can take steps to protect birds from the hazards of pane glass. Decals, including cut-outs of raptors and leaded glass decorations, are only moderately successful in preventing window strikes, but interior vertical blinds with the slats half open cut down on additional casualties. Shade trees outside windows also cut down on window reflection.

One of the single most important thing that individual homeowners can do to support migration is to keep their cats indoors. It is easy to demonize the buildings of Chicago because a dead bird at the foot of a building is so easy to document. However, building mortality, as massive as it is projected to be around the country, may not be the worst problem. Feral cats are thought to be a gigantic problem. Just around Soldier Field this spring, there are at least five cats that are making their meals on migratory birds.

Homeowners also should terminate the use of pesticides during migration periods. Most homeowners do not use pesticides safely; in fact, they tend to use several times what farmers do. For example, the popular pesticide, diazinon, is advertised to be able to kill more than 140 kinds of insects and pests. Unfortunately, it kills not only the targeted insects, but the birds that consume these insects. Fledglings are more sensitive to pesticide toxicity than mature birds. They can be poisoned easily by the contaminated insects fed to them by their parents.

According to Craig Tufts, Director of National Wildlife Federation’s Urban Wildlife Program, diazinon granules are deadly for songbirds who mistake them for feed grains. You can spot birds in the throes of diazinon poisoning as they stagger around and lean their heads to one side until death takes them. When death does not free the victim of pesticide poisoning, long-term effects include an inability to withstand cold temperatures, embryo death, changes in brooding behavior, and impaired reproduction.

Homeowners and renters alike can take positive steps by planting bird-friendly gardens including plants that provide food and shelter. The USFWS Backyard Habitat brochure suggests elderberry, service-berry, dogwood, crabapples, nannyberry, prairie grasses such as little bluestem, and prairie dropseed, such as goldenrod, pale purple coneflower, and sunflowers. Place feeders and bird baths in the garden a safe distance from windows.

While the Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds is still a pilot program, (New Orleans recently became the first Urban Conservation Treaty city), the USFWS hopes to extend this treaty to other cities by the end of the year. Not only is it good for the birds, it is good for us. According to Doug Stotz, Conservation Ecologist/Ornithologist with the Field Museum, "I think that the issue of making Chicago more hospitable for birds has a future. The Chicago Park District has done more for birds in the last six months than in the previous ten years. Both the Department of the Environment and the Planning Department have ongoing activities that will benefit birds. And the bird-watching community has gotten organized through the local conservation groups, especially the Bird Conservation Network. Their engagement in these issues means that any tendency by the city to backslide on this issue will be meet with an involved constituency."

For more information on the Bird-Friendly Building Program, you can contact FLAP at The Fatal Light Awareness Program, 65 Front Street West, Suite 0116-207, Toronto, Ontario M5J1E6; tel 905-831-3527.

For a wildlife rehabilitator near you, contact the Willowbrook Wildlife Center at 630-942-6200.

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: