A new push to avert cell-tower bird strikes

A NEW PUSH TO AVERT CELL-TOWER BIRD STRIKES
Communication towers are one of the fastest-growing parts of the problems for migrating birds due to the US passion for cellphones and high-definition television. Among about 96,000 towers listed in a federal database, some 22,000 new towers were listed as having gone up in just the past five years. Last month the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the Federal Communications Commission to provide more citizen input and comply with US environmental laws including the National Environmental Policy Act when approving new towers. Yet the problem – and one partial solution for bird strikes – is less about the number of towers and more about the way they are illuminated at night, researchers say. All communications towers 200-feet or higher – and all towers near a flight path or airport – must be lighted according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards in order to warn pilots away, FCC rules mandate. Such tower lighting is not a problem for birds in clear weather. But on stormy and foggy nights, when clouds are thickest, migrating flocks of birds tend to zero in on tower lights like moths to a flame.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0326/p16s01-sten.htm