Enthusiasts counter risk of Chicago high-rises for migrating birds

For rescue groups in Chicago, the same scene plays out hundreds of times each spring and fall as migrating birds fly into homes, small buildings and sometimes Chicago's skyscrapers and other hulking buildings.

A stark sign of the risks emerged last fall, when 1,000 migrating birds died on a single night after flying into the glass exterior of the city's lakefront convention center, McCormick Place. This fall, the facility unveiled new bird-safe window film on one of its glass buildings along the Lake Michigan shore.

The $1.2 million project applied tiny dots on the exterior of the Lakeside Center building, covering enough glass to span two football fields.

But for the birds that collide with Chicago buildings, there is a network of people waiting to help. They also are aiming to educate officials and find solutions to improve building design, lighting and other factors in the massive number of bird collision deaths in Chicago and worldwide.

Dead birds are often saved for scientific use, including by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. Rescued birds are taken to local wildlife rehabilitation centers to recover, such as the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center in suburban Illinois.

The center takes in about 10,000 species of animals annually and 65 percent of them are avian. Many are victims of window collisions and during peak migration in the fall, several hundred birds can show up in one day.

Injured birds go through a process of flight testing, then get a full physical exam by the veterinary staff and are rehabilitated before being set free.

(Cover: An injured Nashville warbler sits on the ground after likely striking a glass window pane in downtown Chicago, Illinois, U.S., October 8, 2024. /CFP)