A court is ordering the Federal Communications Commission to protect birds. Rebecca Williams reports the FCC has to find ways to keep birds from crashing into radio, TV and cell phone towers:
Transcript
A court is ordering the Federal Communications Commission to protect birds. Rebecca Williams reports the FCC has to find ways to keep birds from crashing into radio, TV and cell phone towers:
The government says each year, as many as 50 million birds are killed by communications towers.
Darin Schroeder is with American Bird Conservancy. He says birds mistake the tower lights for stars they use to migrate at night.
“They’re drawn to these towers, they circle the towers within this cone of light and they’re unable to escape so they either hit each other or hit the structure, or they fall exhausted, often to their death.”
Schroeder’s group was part of a lawsuit against the FCC. The court ruling means the FCC will need to find ways to protect birds from communications towers. That might mean installing different kinds of tower lights that won’t confuse birds.
For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.