Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!metro!cluster!andrewt From: andrewt@cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Confused migrant? Message-ID: <1249@cluster.cs.su.oz.au> Date: 6 Oct 90 01:27:02 GMT References: <1990Oct4.172011.1686@granite.cr.bull.com> Sender: news@cluster.cs.su.oz.au Reply-To: andrewt@cluster.cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) Distribution: rec Organization: Basser Dept of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Australia Lines: 23 In article <1990Oct4.172011.1686@granite.cr.bull.com> horvath@granite.cr.bull.com (John Horvath) writes: >It sounds like you described the situation pretty well, except that >the full moon probably had little to do with it. I'm not so sure, the most plausible explanation seems that the birds confused the lights for the moon. Ceilometers, intense vertical searchlights used to measure the height of clouds at airports, used to take a huge toll of migrating US birds. The worst being 50,000 of 53 species in one night. The birds fly into the ground which is consistent with them assuming the searchlight is the moon. >I've heard that one common trap to migrants is flying into radio >towers. The person who told me the story, claimed that the collisions >were more frequent on foggy nights. This is true, and unfortunately weather condusive to migration will often be that likely to produce fog and overcast. In one of the worst incidents 30,000 were killed in two nights by one radio tower. You'd think some form hazard beacons could be installed on the these towers to warn birds maybe tape loops of raptor calls would work. Andrew