This year’s theme, Every bird counts, your observations matterhighlights the urgent need to protect migratory birds and the ecosystems on which they depend.
UN News: For people living in cities, wildlife may seem far away: how come migratory birds are still part of our daily lives?
Catherine Quayle: If you live somewhere with trees and a bit of green, even in the middle of Manhattan, you’ll be able to hear the birds when you wake up. Their songs change throughout the year. You don’t even need to leave home to witness the ecological diversity outside your window.
Birds also usually migrate at night. At night, you may see seagulls or herons migrating to roost. Look early in the morning or at night and you will see birds without leaving home.
Catherine Quayle, communications director for Wild Bird Fund, rescuing an injured pigeon in Brooklyn.
UN News: New York City is located on the Atlantic Flyway; Basically a highway for birds. How many birds pass overhead during peak migration?
Catherine Quayle: BirdCast, a tool from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, uses weather radar to track bird migration, showing how many fly and when.
On peak nights, a few billion birds may be flying over the United States at a time. Up to a million can pass through New York City in a single night, but most people don’t realize because it happens at night.
UN News: What are some of the challenges birds face when migrating?
Catherine Quayle: One of the biggest challenges is habitat loss. Birds migrate to find specific foods available at certain times of the year. For generations they have learned where to go, for example, to Central America in winter.
But if that habitat has been torn down, rebuilt, paved over, or logged, many more birds will not survive when they reach their wintering or breeding grounds.
The other big threat in New York City is window collisions. This is probably much worse than 50 years ago because modern architecture is so focused on glass. Heavily glazed surfaces and all-glass windows are very popular and this is very dangerous for birds.
A Wild Bird Fund staff rehabilitator examines a pine warbler that crashed into a window in New York City.
UN News: Are certain types of buildings or places more dangerous for birds?
Catherine Quayle: Skyscrapers are dangerous because their bright lights attract birds, drawing them to areas like midtown Manhattan during migration, where the glass surfaces reflect nearby trees. The combination of light and glass is very dangerous.
But houses can be just as risky. Reflections, especially near feeders or trees, often cause collisions. In reality, houses cause most collisions, they’re just less noticeable because it’s one or two birds at a time, whereas in midtown Manhattan you can find a hundred.
A black and white warbler recovers from a collision with a window at the Wild Bird Fund.
Migratory birds are at special risk because they arrive at night, tired, disoriented and in unfamiliar territory.
UN News: What can we do every day to contribute to bird conservation?
Catherine Quayle: You can keep the outside lights off at night so that the sky remains darker and birds are not attracted to the light. In a smaller community, people turning off the lights makes a big difference.
One of the best things you can do is plant native species in your garden. Do some research on what species are native to your area and dedicate some of your outdoor space to native species to attract insects and birds.
UN News: Do you have any memorable rescue stories that have really stuck with you?
Catherine Quayle: When I visit a nearby park to watch birds, I pass several buildings where window collisions are common. During migration season, I check for injured birds.
On one trip, I saw a bird on the road under an elevated glass bridge; Structures like these are especially dangerous because birds don’t expect it and often crash into the windows.
I ran down the hill and picked up the bird; Seconds later, a car passed by the place where he had been. The bird was a scarlet tanager with beautiful yellow plumage. He was later rehabilitated and released, and would surely have been caught if he hadn’t picked him up.
A scarlet tanager perches in a tree on San Andrés Islands, Colombia.
UN News: For people who don’t think of themselves as birds, what little thing can they do?
Catherine Quayle: Start by noticing the birds around you, what you see and hear when you go out. As you pay attention, your curiosity will grow. You could grab some binoculars or join a bird-watching walk.
During migration, many free birdwatching walks are offered in local parks, often led by experts, and are really fun.
The first time I walked into Central Park with a pair of binoculars many years ago and started noticing all the birds I hadn’t noticed before, it blew my mind. I was so excited and couldn’t get enough. I’ve been doing it ever since, and that was 25 years ago.