Birds and Prisons - an Unlikely Pairing

As you might know, The Washington Department of Corrections (Prisons) is planning to build a nearly 2,000 bed prison on the south shore of the Grays Harbor Estuary. What they continue to ignore is the potential risk to the over 500,000 shorebirds that use the south shore and Bowerman Basin (directly across from the prison location) for feeding grounds on their migration north to breeding grounds. The following are excerpts from "Collision Course: The Hazards of Lighted Structures and Windows to Migrating Birds" World Wildlife Fund Canada, September, 1996

1. Birds migrating at night are strongly attracted to, or at least trapped by, sources of artificial light, particularly during periods of inclement weather. (Verheijen, F.J., 1958, 1985)

2. Once inside a beam of light, birds are reluctant to fly out of the lighted area into dark (Graber, R.R., 1968) and often continue to flap around in the beam of light until they drop to the ground with exhaustion. (Weir, R.D., 1976)

3. Migrating birds . . . face such risks wherever human-built structures occur along their migratory path and are likely more vulnerable than resident birds to collisions and potentially fatal disorientation. (WWF Canada, 1996)

4. The entrapment of nocturnally migrating birds by areas of artificial light sources is a particularly serious problem, and light is probably the single most important factor in rendering a structure a potent killer to such species. (Able, K.P., 1982)

5. Waterfowl can feed by either day or night and thus their migration occurs at either time. (WWF Canada, 1996; Kerlinger, P. & Moore, F.R., 1989)

6. In general, swans, geese, ducks, and cranes fly at higher levels than do raptors, shorebirds, and songbirds. (Cooper, B.A. & Ritchie, R.J., 1995)

7. Birds flying at relatively low levels ... [are] particularly vulnerable to mortality at human-built structures. (WWF, 1996)

8. Significantly greater numbers of kills at human-built structures occur on nights of overcast or inclement weather conditions. (Kemper, C.A., 1964; Aldrich, J.W., et al, 1966; Verheijen, F.J., 1981)

9. Structures located at key points along migratory routes may represent a greater hazard than those in other locations. For example, cities or structures located along the shores ... where birds congregate before or after crossing a large expanse of water, constitute a particularly dangerous threat. (Dunn, E.H. & Nol, E., 1980)

10. [There is] much evidence that cues based on vision are at least as important as, and maybe more important than magnetic cues. (Martin, G.R., 1990)

11. Even in the absence of bad weather, nocturnally migrating birds have been observed to be confused by artificial lights below them and are attracted at night to artificial lights when there is no moon combined with fog or mist at ground level in the area. (Martin, G.R., 1990)

12. Light attraction refers to the phenomenon of aggregation and entrapment at artificial light, birds are apparently not attracted from a distance but rather enter a lighted area by chance and are then trapped by the artificial light. (WWF, 1996)

13. Birds flying in the vicinity of artificial light are attracted to the source of light "like iron filings to a magnet". (Weir, R.D., 1976)

14. Lighthouses were the first human-built structures responsible for large migratory bird kills in North America, particularly during weather conditions of low visibility such as rain or fog (Weir, R.D., 1976). The rotating beams typical of traditional light stations "result in birds circling the tower, flying up the beams and dashing themselves against the glazing, cowling, etc." (Baldwin, D.H., 1965)

15. ... phenomenon of avian attraction to artificial light ... a trapping effect. "Low illumination intensity of the environment around such a light source interferes with the normal photoc orientation resulting in a drift towards the light sources." [Birds are] drawn to light due to the differences in the properties of natural vs. artificial light. (Verheijen, F.J., 1958)

16. Migrants ... passing nearby on a cloudy night enter an illuminated area that they are reluctant to leave. Approaching the edge of the illuminated area, migrants are hesitant to fly into the darkness beyond and instead fly back toward the obstruction where inevitably some are killed or injured in collisions. (Avery, M.L., et al, 1976)

17. ...in the case of seabirds, experimentation on the use of polarizing filters determined that they were ineffective in deterring collisions with human-built obstructions. (Tefler, T.C., et al, 1987)

18. The simple answer to the problem of night-time migratory bird mortality at lighted structures is to turn out the lights. (WWF, 1996)

We hope that this information will be useful to you. FOGH (Friends of Grays Harbor) is at the forefront in this battle to change the inappropriate citing of a prison on the shoreline. We hope that you can join us in convincing the legislators to move the location. In addition to the dangers to the migratory birds, the entire south shore wetlands will be disturbed and possibly compromised beyond recovery, as they lay the water, wastewater and gas lines in those wetlands and drill under SIX creeks. We need further documentation to the inadvisability of this action. Please help, immediately.

Thank you for your time,

Arthur Grunbaum/Linda Orgel
FOGH
P.O. Box 564
Grayland, WA 98547
feedback, comments, and or suggestions to Arthur Grunbaum/Linda Orgel.
or feedback, comments, and or suggestions to Brady Engvall, Brady's Oysters
Visit FOGH

Bibliography:
Able, K.P., "The effects of overcast skies on the orientation of free-flying migrants", Avian Migration, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1982, pp.40-49.
Aldrich, J.W.; Graber, R.R.; Munron, D.A..; Wallace, G.J.; West, G.C.; and Cabalane, V.H., " Mortality at ceilometers and towers", Auk 83: 465-467, 1966.
Avery, M.; Springer, P.F.; and Cassel, J.F., "The effects of a tall tower upon nocturnal bird migration - a portable ceilometer study, Auk 93: 281-291, 1976.
Baldwin, D.H., "Enquiry into the mass mortality of nocturnal migrants in Ontario", The Ontario Naturalist 3(1): 3-11, 1965.
Cooper, B.A. and Ritchie,. R.J., "The altitude of bird migration in east-central Alaska: a radar and visual study", Journal of Field Ornithology, 66(4): 590-608.
Dunn, E.H. and Nol, E., "Age-related migratory behaviour of warblers", Journal of Field Ornithology, 51(3): 254-269, 1980.
Kemper, C.A., "A tower for T.V., 3,000 dead birds, Audubon Magazine, 66: 89-90, 1964
Kerlinger, P and Moore, F.R., "Atmospheric structure and avian migration", Current Ornithology, Vol. 6, Plenum, New York, 1989. pp. 109-142.
Martin, G.R., "The visual problems of nocturnal migration", Bird Migration, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 185-197, 1990.
Telfer, T.C.; Sincock, J.L.; Byrd, G.V. and Reed, J.R., "Attraction of Hawaiian seabirds to lights: conservation efforts and effect of moon phase", Wildlife Society Bulletin, 15: 406-413, 1987.
Verheijen, F.J., "The mechanisms of the trapping effect of artificial light sources upon animals", Netherlands Journal of Zoology, 13: 1-107, 1958.
Ibid., "Bird kills at lighted man-made structures: not on nights close to full moon", American Birds, 35: 251-254, 1981.
Ibid., "Photopollution: artificial light optic spatial control systems fail to cope with: incidents, causations, remedies", Experimental Biology, 44: 1-18.
Weir, R.D., "Annotated bibliography of bird kills at man-made obstacles: a review of the state of the art and solutions", Department of Fisheries and the Environment, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ontario Region, 1976.
World Wildlife Fund Canada and the Fatal Light Awareness Program, "Collision course: the hazards of lighted structures and windows to migrating birds", 1996.
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