The lights of high-rise buildings are drawing flocks of migratory birds to their deaths, according to a new study.
After monitoring more than 10m data points, US scientists found that the birds were being drawn towards high levels of artificial light.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, said skyscrapers should add dots or lines to their windows to make them easier for birds to spot and recommended “lowering the brightness and softening the colour of lights” used at night to make them less attractive to migrating flocks.
Overnight between 4 and 5 October, more than 1,000 birds died after crashing into the McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago, leaving a mass of avian corpses belonging to 33 species around the illuminated building.
