This isn’t just a problem in Chicago. In 2014, research suggested anywhere between 365 million and 988 million birds die in window strikes every year across the US.
Almost 1,000 songbirds have died in a single night after smashing into the windows of a glass-fronted exhibition centre in Chicago.
Experts have described this as a “shocking outlier” – as typically, no more than 15 birds would perish at the McCormick Place, the largest convention centre in the US.
David Willard, who has been checking the grounds for decades, described seeing a “carpet of dead birds” on Thursday morning.
“In 40 years of keeping track of what’s happening at McCormick, we’ve never seen anything remotely on that scale,” he said.
Avian experts say a lethal cocktail of rain, prime migration conditions and window-lined walls were to blame for the mass fatalities.
This is not just a problem in Chicago. In 2014, research suggested anywhere between 365 million and 988 million birds die in window strikes every year across the US.
Birds don’t understand that glass is a lethal barrier – and often head for windows when they see plants or bushes reflected in them.
