The Impact of Communication Towers On Neotropical Songbird Populations
Joanne M. Lopez
Florida International University, University Park Campus, Environmental Studies
Department, 11200 Southwest 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199; JALopez31@atc-enviro.com
Abstract
Neotropical migrants are birds of the Western Hemisphere that migrate to the
New World Tropics (or "Neotropics") for the winter to take advantage
of seasonally abundant food and longer daylight hours. Migration is hazardous
and every year, millions of birds collide with human-built structures in North
America. Presently, thousands of communication towers are located in migratory
flyways. Ornithologists estimate that in the 1970s, 1.2 million migratory
birds were killed annually by collisions with communication towers. Today,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimates the numbers to be four
to five million, a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Forty-seven
comprehensive published studies document the deaths of 230 bird species, encompassing
over 25 percent of all avian species found in the U.S. Of the 230 species
identified, 52 species are listed either as endangered or threatened. The
Telecommunications Act of 1996 brought about the deregulation of communication
systems, causing an explosion in the number of communication providers. As
a result, the number of communication towers is increasing and its growth
rate will be exacerbated by a federal mandate requiring digital television
to be available nationwide by 2002. Without the implementation of government
regulations, communication companies are not likely to construct bird-friendly
towers. Thus, researches are tasked with finding alternative methods to protect
birds from collisions with towers.