Nearly 400 Birds Die In One Night After Flying Into Texas Skyscraper

[Judi Lynn]

BY NINA GODLEWSKI @NINAGODLEWSKI ON 05/16/17 AT 4:34 PM


Nearly 400 birds migrating north from Central and South America died in one night earlier this month after slamming into the American National Insurance Co. skyscraper in Galveston, Texas, Houston Audubon reported. The birds had gotten got caught up in a storm.

The building sits on Galveston island, just off mainland Texas in the Gulf of Mexico about 50 miles south of Houston. The large white building is 23 stories tall, the Washington Post reported, and the exterior of the building is usually lit by large floodlights.

Josh Henderson, the supervisor of animal services for the Galveston Police Department, was called when the birds were found. He collected the carcasses and started counting them — 395 dead, three alive, the Post reported. Among those birds were Nashville warblers, yellow warblers and ovenbirds. Henderson shipped them to Texas A&M University and Louisiana State University.

Following the incident, American National turned off the floodlights that usually illuminate the building at night, Houston Audubon said. Instead of bright floodlights on the entire exterior of the building, only green lights around the top of it are lit for air travel safety reasons. The vice president and chief human resources officer of American National told Houston Audubon, an avian conservation organization, that to the company's knowledge, in the 45 years the building has been there, nothing like this ever has happened.

More:
http://www.ibtimes.com/nearly-400-birds-die-one-night-after-flying-texas-skyscraper-2539665