New York Tower Survey
1999 Results
22 Sep 99 NYS Towerkill Survey
Species totals of bird carcasses found:
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 25 (18 male; 7 female)
Blackpoll - 11
Red-eyed Vireo - 10
Magnolia Warbler - 9
Ovenbird - 9
Black-throated Green Warbler - 8
Nashville Warbler - 8
Common Yellowthroat - 4
Wilson's Warbler - 4
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 4
Blue-headed Vireo - 3
Bay-breasted Warbler - 3
Northern Waterthrush - 2
Blackburnian Warbler - 2
Northern Parula - 2
Black-and-white Warbler - 2
Swainson's Thrush - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Yellow Warbler - 1
Mourning Dove - 1
Scarlet Tanager - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 1
Species totals of bird carcasses found:
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 25 (18 male; 7 female)
Blackpoll - 11
Red-eyed Vireo - 10
Magnolia Warbler - 9
Ovenbird - 9
Black-throated Green Warbler - 8
Nashville Warbler - 8
Common Yellowthroat - 4
Wilson's Warbler - 4
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 4
Blue-headed Vireo - 3
Bay-breasted Warbler - 3
Northern Waterthrush - 2
Blackburnian Warbler - 2
Northern Parula - 2
Black-and-white Warbler - 2
Swainson's Thrush - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Yellow Warbler - 1
Mourning Dove - 1
Scarlet Tanager - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 1
Some of the salvaged specimens from the 22Sep99 survey
Total carcasses salvaged 113* (all deposited at the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates by volunteers with State and Fed. permits). Identifications were confirmed or determined by Dr. Kevin McGowan, Curator of Birds & Mammals, Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates.
*Evidence of 20 freshly scavenged carcasses was documented. Great Horned Owls were heard in the vicinity of the Elmira Tower.
Injured birds found:
Osprey (bird captured and taken to Liverpool Animal Hospital where it was euthanized later in the day)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (stunned; left in hopes the bird would recover)
Red-eyed Vireo (broken wing; in inaccessible fenced-in area)
Bay-breasted Warbler (stunned; left in hopes the bird would recover)
Wilson's Warbler (couldn't catch it)
Documented bird mortality or injury by height and location of tower:
Height Location Surveyor(s) #Fatalities 1173 ft. tower - 10 miles north of Syracuse: B.Evans, C.Hanks, B.O'Shea...63 1000 ft towers(2 at different locations) - south of Buffalo: A.Clark......0 964 ft. tower - N of Pompey, NY: K.Fleming, et al........................24 934 ft. tower - 4.5 miles SW of Binghamton: G.Kloppel, et al..............1 850 ft. tower - 3 miles WNW of Elmira: D.Russell, et al..................24 700 ft. tower - south of Romulus: K.McGowan...............................0 553 ft. tower - 4.5 miles SW of Binghamton: B.Evans, C.Hanks, B.O'Shea....6 486 ft. towers(3) - Glenmont: K.Parker....................................0 355 ft. tower - 2 miles E of Ithaca: A.Kendall............................0 306 ft. towers(3) - south of Ithaca: J.Confer, E.Laub.....................0 200+ ft towers - W of Rochester: J.Greenberg..............................0
Note: grounds under most towers had regions that were not accessible or had vegetation that resulted in minor to significant impedance in finding birds.
A cold front began crossing central New York State on the early evening of September 20th. The speed of the frontal passage was slowed by Hurricane "Gert" as it passed off the coast of New England. The result was a nearly stalled front in eastern NYS on the evening of the 21st. Rain had begun in central NY on the evening of the 20th and Dave Russell found 3 dead birds under the 850' TV Elmira tower on the morning of the 21st. Art Clark found 20 birds under several 1000' TV towers south of Buffalo. On the afternoon of the 21st I realized the front was stalled and called the National Weather Service to get a forecast for the cloud ceiling for the coming night. A 1000-2000 ft ceiling was forecast over the Binghamton airport. I began alerting volunteers for a towerkill survey on the next morning.
At about 8:30PM, Cullen Hanks, Brian O'Shea picked me up and we drove up to Ithaca College to listen for migrating birds. Winds were north-northeast 5-10mph and we heard a moderate number calls of thrushes and warblers but they seemed high and indeed the cloud ceiling appeared to be at least a thousand feet above our head. The Cornell lacrosse team was practicing in the stadium across the valley to the north and the bright white stadium lighting lit up the low cloud cover. We drove over to the stadium about 10PM to listen for migrants disoriented in the light dome. We climbed up to the top bleachers and listened. There was light but steady calling of warblers and a few thrushes. Birds were occasionally flying about in the light dome. As time went on more birds appeared and sometimes four or five were visible at once. A light mist circulated around the stadium lights but the general cloud ceiling seemed at least a 1000-ft. up.
After observing this action for half an hour we decided it was time to start checking if birds were circling towers. We drove back over toward Ithaca College to check the four 310-ft. towers on Troy Hill Rd, but on the way we stopped at the Michigan Hill overlook south of Ithaca College. We heard calling again but also noticed that the cloud ceiling had risen to what seemed 4000-5000 feet above ground level. I began to think that the conditions for towerkills had dissipated. As it approached midnight we were hesitant about driving all over central New York checking towers unless the conditions looked likely for towerkill. We drove to my office and called the National Weather Service and discovered that indeed the ceiling had risen in Ithaca to 4500 feet agl, but the meteorologist said that the ceiling decreased in altitude as one went south or east, and rain was forecast for Binghamton. We decided to make a night of it and headed southward to Elmira's 850' foot tower.
Upon arriving in Elmira we immediately saw a bird in the driveway to the tower - an injured Bay-breasted Warbler. It seemed OK, just stunned, so we moved it to the grass in hopes it would come to. Further up the drive were several other carcasses. We fanned out to collect them, not wanting to give the two juvenile Great Horned Owls calling a shot at cleaning them up. We heard birds calling in collective disorientation up in the sky around the tower. The ceiling seemed at least a thousand feet above the top of the tower. While we stood there two birds, a Black-throated Green Warbler and a Red-eyed Vireo, fell from the sky above and smacked hard onto the pavement within 20-feet of where we were standing. We picked up the warm carcasses. We found about a dozen birds and then decided to head toward the Binghamton towers. Within ten miles of heading east on rte. 17 toward Binghamton, we encountered steady rain. It continued all the way to Binghamton.
We checked the 934-ft. tower on Ingram Hill and only found one thrush in the grass during a cold rain. It was difficult searching for birds with a flashlight at night and we found no birds on the paved parking lot. It was raining fairly hard yet birds were calling high up by the tower. Numerous Gray-cheeked Thrushes were heard. We speculated that if we drove up toward Syracuse we might get out of the rain. As we were leaving Ingram Hill we noticed one of the other towers on the hill, a white strobed 553-ft. tower. We drove into the parking lot and found a number of dead birds strewn about, including a Scarlet Tanager. The white strobes were barely visible as the cloud ceiling had engulfed the tower. What seemed to have attracted birds to the tower here were the bright lights illuminating the TV studio located within a few feet of the tower. No birds were heard here so we grabbed the few carcasses we found and headed to Syracuse.
It rained steadily the whole drive to Syracuse. We stopped at the 934-ft. tower north of Pompey and found no dead birds around the tower though many were calling in the tower's vicinity. We then drove across the valley to the west to check on the two tall towers near Otisco (5 miles south of Syracuse). The upper red aviation-warning lights were out on these towers and there was not much lighting to attract birds. We heard few birds calling. Since the grass is also very deep under these towers we decided not to devote any more time here and we were off to Syracuse for breakfast.
After breakfast we drove to a 1177-ft. tower about ten miles north of Syracuse. At daybreak we began collecting dead birds. Most were found to the south of the tower, indicative of the north wind the previous night. We found 62 carcasses of small songbirds here and an injured Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Forest covered significant areas under the tower and it is likely that many dead birds lay hidden under ferns on the forest floor.
We returned to the Pompey tower about 8:30AM and were greeted by Bob White and Kathy Fleming. Bob works at the TV station and has been assisting in the towerkill assessment for years. He had already gotten a ladder and checked the roof of the TV station for birds. Kathy was conducting her first New York State Towerkill Survey. She had already found an injured Osprey, called the DEC, and arranged to have a rehabilitator come and capture the bird so she could take it to a vet. In addition, she had found about a dozen songbirds so we joined her and continued the search finding about 10 more.
A number of shorter towers in central New York State were checked and no mortality was noted. This included a 700-ft. high tower near Romulus, NY and a 355-ft. tower 4 miles east of Ithaca on a hilltop. Art Clark found no mortality at several 1000-ft. towers south of Buffalo and Karl Parker found no mortality at a complex of three 489-ft. towers south of Albany. The towerkills documented in this survey were in a region of lower cloud ceiling or rain that stretched from south of Ithaca, near Elmira, eastward to Binghamton and up toward Syracuse. We don't know how far east it extended from the I81 corridor and the fact that no kills were noted at the 700-ft. tower near Romulus or in Buffalo suggests that western New York was spared. Towerkills occurred mainly at taller towers though no short towers were checked in the region where the weather appeared worst. Also of interest is that the 934-ft. tower in Binghamton produced so few casualties because lots of Gray-cheeked Thrushes and warblers were heard calling in the tower's vicinity.
Bill Evans
Ithaca, NY
SURVEY RESULTS:
| September 22, 1998 |
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October 10, 1998 |
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September 22, 1999 |
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