[BC] TV tower kills birds

[Mario Hieb, P.E.]

Near the KLO 4-tower DA is Farmington Bay on the 
Great Salt Lake. These wetlands are a nesting 
ground for hundreds of bird species.

It's a great place if you're a bird watcher. 
Birds are always perched on the guy wires; the 
birds of prey sit high on the towers (the only 
high spot for miles) looking for their next meal. 
Some even build nests in the towers; maybe they like the RF?

I've never seen a dead bird on the ground. I 
assume that the birds like the towers because they congregate there.

Mario


At 12:05 PM 10/8/2005, you wrote:
>Message: 12
>Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005 08:04:25 -0600
>From: "Gary Peterson" <kzerocx at rapidcity.net>
>Subject: [BC] TV tower kills birds
>To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
>Message-ID: <000d01c5cc11$55aae2a0$890f22d0 at kzerocx>
>Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> > Is this just some sort of anomaly, or is this more common than I thought?
> > In the 15+ years I have been in broadcasting (I'm a neophyte- I know) I
> > have yet to see
> > a dead bird at the tower site, and I've been to a few. Is this a
> > regional issue?
>
>I've worked in broadcasting around here since 1965.  In all those years, I
>have found exactly one dead bird near a tower.  While relamping a 300 ft.
>Wincharger, the climber tossed down a mummified duck.  Apparently, it got
>it's neck caught in an X brace.  During migratory seasons, the guy wires on
>this very same AM tower will be temporary resting space for hundreds of
>birds at a time.  It is wise to wear a hat and not look up when coming to
>and going from the building near the tower base.
>
>OTOH, we once had a combo operation with studios on the 6th floor of a
>ten-story bank building.  I often found dead birds on the mezzanine roof,
>where we had satellite dishes.  They smacked into the mirrored windows up
>above and dropped to the roof below.  I live adjacent to a large wooded
>area.  Over the years, I have found lots of dead birds, including owls.
>Considering their usual condition, I can only assume that most of them flew
>into trees.  I not taken any in for a necropsy.
>
>Maybe this is nature's way of eliminating birds with poor navigational
>skills from the gene pool?
>
>Gary Peterson, K?CX
>Rapid City, SD