ithe wt DON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
Mier se eo UA BON SOC LET Y 
ROOSEVELT ROAD AND LAKE SHORE DRIVE, CHICAGO 5, ILL. 
Number 111 September, 1959 
Mortality of Birds At a Television 
Tower In Central Illinois 
By PAUL W. PARMALEE and BARBARA G. PARMALEE 
PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS DEALING with the accidental destruction of migrating 
birds are not uncommon. Overing (1936, 1937, 1938a) has supplied com- 
parable data involving the somewhat consistent yearly mortality of fall 
migrants at the Washington Monument and in one article (Overing, 1938b) 
records an unusual number of birds killed in one night (576 specimens, 
24 species); the average yearly mortality at the Monument since 1932 had 
been 828 individuals. Instances in which birds have flown into structures 
such as the Washington Monument and the Empire State Building (Pough, 
1948) can be attributed to unfavorable weather conditions. However, there 
have been fatalities which appeared to have no logical explanation and in 
the case of airport ceilometer mortality (Spofford, 1949; Howell, Laskey 
and Tanner, 1954), the reasons are not often clear. 
Television station WICS of Springfield, Illinois, began construction of a 
transmitting tower in April of 1958 and work was completed in August, 
although actual broadcasting did not commence until September 29, 1958. 
The tower, 865 feet, 9 inches in height, with an additional. 133 feet of 
transmitting antennae, is located in an open field approximately 10 miles 
east of Springfield, Sangamon County. The nearest forested area, the flood- 
plain of the Sangamon River, is approximately four miles south-southwest 
of the tower. One-inch guy cables are attached at 208, 426, 651, and 865 
foot intervals; the lower two groups of cables are anchored to the ground 
428 feet from the base and the upper two groups are anchored 654.5 feet 
from the base. The guy cable groupings are evenly positioned at 120 de- 
grees; one group extends almost directly north (N10° 10’W), one east- 
southeast and the third, west-southwest. The only illumination consists of 
red warning lights placed at 140 feet (3 steady), 280 feet (1 flashing), 420 
feet (3 steady), 560 feet (1 flashing), 700 feet (3 steady), 840 feet (3 
steady), and 999 feet (1 flashing). 
Unfortunately, the authors did not learn of birds killed at the tower on 
the night of Tuesday, September 16, until Thursday, September 18, when 
a photograph of Mr. William Oldani, Springfield, showing him with a 
“handful of small canary-like birds,” appeared in the Illinois State Journal. 
Friday morning the senior author accompanied Mr. Oldani to the tower and 
several hundred birds were picked up; that evening and the following 
morning (Saturday, September 20) the authors returned to the area and 
recovered as many of the dead birds as was possible. 
Ed, 
