Well, the design flaw is there is glass paneling along some of the viewing areas. Glass paneling may cause bird strikes and bird mortality. I don't want to be critical about this before the tower even opens but I can't help but think that this tower is on one of the major migration routes in north america and perhaps millions of birds migrate by this point every year. A reader of this observation might roll their eyes --- but hear me out --- I was at Put-In-Bay Ohio - which is an island similar to Pelee Island along the Lake Erie Archipelago and visited a solid cement tower (no glass) a few years ago (the tower is a historical monument for the battle of Lake Erie which happened around the war of 1812). One of the employees told me that every year during migration, a shocking number of birds are found dead around that tower!
I'm not a biologist - just a common layperson - but this is the second time I find myself scratching my head at Point Pelee's project oversight. I am still a little bothered that Point Pelee's management decided that building a village of 10 + Otentniks (cabins) in prime interior forest habitat at Point Pelee (do they have an ecologist looking over their decisions?)
I guess time will tell if these glass panels are an issue. If they do ... you heard it here first.
On a lighter note - I was on Twitter today and someone shared this birding rap video and I couldn't help but reshare. If you don't like wrap music or hip-hop culture - feel free to skip it. I thought it was pretty amusing. Anything to build the naturalist community! (Oddly enough - this song makes reference to bird-strikes and reflective windows).
Lyrics:
Whole lotta people need to hear this
It’s a lot of birds on my life list
Mockingbirds say what they want to
Albatross taking care of big chicks
I should run a whole blog at this rate
Use mandarin ducks for click-bait
#TeamFish always wanna start fake beef
But we not even playing in the same game
They know birders the bomb, they ticking us off
Look at us crazy for watching the hawks
I know that mean they just not exposed
But somebody just gotta show em it’s dope
So whether they trained or out in the wild,
I’m hearing the birds, I’m writing them down
Tan pronto que las aves quieren cantar
They singing they singing like Destiny’s Child
Everybody wanna see Tits (a reference to great tits Parus major)
Everybody wanna see chicks (a reference to baby birds in a nest)
Everybody wanna be this
If I was you I’d start my list
Follow my lead y’all catch my drift
All these reflections I’m calling ‘em out
Windows is killing too many to count
If you not a birder then you gotta bounce
I got the bins, come get em now
We do anything for the count
Do anything for the count
They flying north, they flying west birds flying south
Seeing me win, it gotta hurt OO OO ouch
Im seeing ‘em all and you tryna stop me
Hello. The glass on the tower has FLAP approved decals on the exterior of the panels to prevent bird strikes. Only 2 percent of the glass view is impeded while showing virtually all birds that this is not open space. There has not been one bird strike with the tower to date. The campground area has expanded somewhat into the swamp forest however what most don't realize is that the reason for the shift was to protect a critically rare red mulberry population that was located in the region of the western side of the campground. By shifting the campground east this population will be better protected and the campground will incorporate the roadbed from the old main road that was removed in 1998. Believe it or not, 5 of the structures are built on the old road bed. The environmental and cultural assessment determined that this was a sound solution to some of the campground issues. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIt has the spotted glass if that makes a difference
ReplyDelete