56 YH ES ALU Dee). BiG i Neitb ales iedarl ain, 
or fine mist, fog, and a wind from 
the north, and the right time of 
the year. Birders watch for these 
conditions to develop: 
Condition Red! 
The morning of September 2 
dawned foggy and cool — a front 
had moved in from the north, It 
was a Saturday morning, so many 
birders were out. The migration 
was building. It would reach its 
peak in a week or two. 
Many of the naturalists who 
were out birding were not looking 
into the misty sky or into trees 
and hedges as would be expected 
of birders. Their eyes were on the 
ground as they walked circles 
around a T. V. tower. The birds 
they were looking for were not 
the flashes of color and quick 
movements that all birders enjoy. 
They were ruffled and mangled 
casualties 
We drove to our local tower 
near Bluffs and several hundred 
feet from the tower found a dead 
Pied-billed Grebe. More searching 
found the area south of the tower 
littered with dead and dying birds. 
Birders near Springfield, Cham- 
paign, and Decatur were finding 
the same thing. We picked up 225 
birds and left hundreds more for 
the scavengers. A ttotal of 795 
birds of 31 species were picked up 
at Springfield and scavengers rang- 
ing in size from raccoons to ants 
had already cleaned up many. The 
birds were found in a wide area 
around the tower. The guide wires 
seemed to have killed most. 
Night migrating birds are the 
ones that find the T.V. towers a 
hazard. Many secretive birds that 
are seldom seen in the area are 
found in numbers at the foot of 
the tower. For example, the Sep- 
tember 2 kill included 26 Veerys 
and 33 Ovenbirds. Occasionally, 
rare birds are found at the towers. 
A Springfield tower has killed 3 
Yellow Rails and a September 27 
kill included a total of 4 Black- 
throated Blue Warblers. Birds as 
unexpected as Pied-billed Grebes, 
Sora Rails and 4 species of Wood- 
peckers have been found at tower 
kills. 
Scientists theorize that the birds 
are attracted to the tower by the 
lights on overcast nights, but kills 
have occurred on clear nights. I 
believe that birds are attracted to 
city areas by the lights of the town 
reflecting on the clouds, and then 
are attracted to the tower lights. 
This might account for the more 
massive kills at the Springfield 
tower which is near the city. The 
Bluffs tower, which is out in the 
country, is taller but kills fewer 
birds. 
Kills at T.V. towers are not new. 
An estimated 30,000 birds were 
killed in Wisconsin one night. The 
tallest towers near busiest migra- 
tion paths seem to be the most 
dangerous for birds. That ranks our 
tower near Bluffs near the top for 
a possible massive kill! 
Scientists learn a lot from the 
birds that die at the towers. Fat 
reserves, plumage variation, age, 
and species migrating is just some 
of the information gained by sci- 
entists. This scientific information 
doesn’t ease the feeling, however, 
of birders going about the grusome 
task of picking up the once beauti- 
ful birds from the mud. As I close 
this article a cold front is moving 
in and it’s raining! Is Condition 
Red developing? Will hundreds of 
birds die tonight? Birders will be 
up early. 
Ms. Ward, IAS member, is field 
trip chairman of Morgan County 
Audubon and a teacher of environ- 
mental science at Armstrong Jr. 
H. S., Jacksonville, Ill. 
