Most birds don’t live very long. Aside from a few species such as parrots, which survive into their sixties, birds usually die at two to fifteen years of age.
What’s more, their life spans have been decreasing over the past 150 years. Culprits include loss of habitat as virgin forests have been logged out of existence and natural grasslands have been mowed and plowed up for farming.
Currently, two major threats to birds are cats and windows. Feral and domestic cats kill hundreds of millions of birds every year. At least another hundred million die every year from collisions with windows.
Newer threats taking their lethal toll on avian flyers include wind farm turbine blades and microwave towers. At least 1,000 new towers are being built every year, so the threat is ever increasing.
Birds also collide with tall buildings. Some 140 bird species were found to have died after flying into commercial buildings in Toronto, Canada. Foggy nights were most dangerous and it was found that solid red and pulsating lights attracted more birds than white lights.
People are encouraged to help give birds a better chance for survival by keeping their outside lights off at night and by keeping their cats indoors. Decals on windows and properly drawn curtains can also cut down on window strikes.
For our avian friends, such actions can be awfully important – the difference between life and death.
Image sourced from MetroCreative
