Bird-friendly communications towers

The FCC drew praise from a wildlife conservation group for considering a plan to make communications towers less deadly for migrating birds - which currently kill up to 50-million birds a year in the United States.

An American Bird Conservancy report analyzing documented towers kills, lists 230 species – over one third of all avian species found in the United States – that are known to be killed at towers, including many species of conservation concern such as the Blackpoll Warbler, Gray-cheeked Thrush, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

ABC is a central participant in the Communication Tower Working Group (CTWG), which is chaired by USFWS and consists of representatives from government agencies, telecommunication, broadcasting and tower industries, scientists and conservation agencies. The CTWG is attempting, to foster research, to ascertain mitigation measures that can be applied to towers to avoid such large-scale avian mortality. ABC also continues to prod federal agencies, such as FAA and FCC, to require bird-safe lighting and tower construction for new and existing towers - see the letter to the FAA. So far the FCC has resisted efforts to assume responsibility for the killing of birds at communication towers that it licenses.