New York City Audubon is an American non-profit

environmental organization An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environment ...

incorporated in 1979. The group's mission reads in part: “New York City Audubon is a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

community that works for the protection of wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs, improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers.” With nearly 10,000 members, it is one of the largest organizations in the

Audubon movement The Audubon movement is a collective name for the more than 500 Audubon clubs, societies, and organizations in North America, all of which take their name from the famous bird artist John James Audubon. Origins Audubon lived from 1785 to 1851, a ...

. It is named in honor of

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...

, an

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and naturalist who shot, painted, catalogued, and described the ''

Birds of North America The lists of birds in the light blue box below are divided by biological family. The lists are based on ''The AOS Check-list of North American Birds'' of the American Ornithological Society and ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' su ...

''. In recent years, New York City Audubon has exercised particular influence in two areas: the restoration of the

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...

Pale Male's nest and the fatal effects of

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day ...

and glass windows on

migratory birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

Pale Male

New York City Audubon organized the protests that followed the removal of the hawk

Pale Male Pale may refer to: Jurisdictions * Medieval areas of English conquest: ** Pale of Calais, in France (1360–1558) ** The Pale, or the English Pale, in Ireland *Pale of Settlement, area of permitted Jewish settlement, western Russian Empire (179 ...

’s nest in December, 2004 and played a major role in negotiating a solution with the co-op board of

927 Fifth Avenue 927 Fifth Avenue is an upscale residential apartment building in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is located on Fifth Avenue at the corner of East 74th Street opposite the Conservatory Water in Central Park. The limestone-clad build ...

. Although Pale Male and his mate, Lola, continued to nest at the site. No new chicks fledged in subsequent years. In 2008, NYC Audubon recruited experts from around the country to assess the problem, and removed pigeon spikes from the nest structure as a result of their recommendations. In 2011, Pale Male, with a new mate, successfully fledged two chicks, suggesting that fertility issues were the likely cause of the nest failure from 2005–2010.

Project Safe Flight

Each year, tens of thousands of birds are killed in North America by flying into windows. In 1997 New York City Audubon launched Project Safe Flight, modeled after

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

’s Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), to work toward long-term solutions for the bird collision problem. From the program's inception through 2013, field volunteers have found more than 6,000 dead or injured birds of more than 100 species. The most frequently harmed species include

white-throated sparrow The white-throated sparrow (''Zonotrichia albicollis'') is a passerine bird of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae. Etymology The genus name ''Zonotrichia'' is from Ancient Greek (, ) and (, ). The specific ''albicollis'' is from Lati ...

common yellowthroat The common yellowthroat (''Geothlypis trichas'') is a New World warbler. In the U.S. Midwest, it is also known as the yellow bandit. It is an abundant breeder in North America, ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico. The genus name ''Geo ...

s, and

ovenbird The ovenbird (''Seiurus aurocapilla'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae). This migratory bird breeds in eastern North America and winters in Central America, many Caribbean islands, Florida and northern Venezuela. ...

s. Project Safe Flight works with building owners and managers to address site-specific threats to migratory birds and is working with politicians, architects, glass manufacturers and others to seek long-term solutions. Prior to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

management, at New York City Audubon's request, placed protective netting around the lower floors of 1 WTC and 2 WTC. The netting acted somewhat like a trampoline — instead of striking the glass, the birds just bounced off, unharmed. In September, 2006, Project Safe Flight began a comprehensive study aimed at quantifying the magnitude of the bird collision problem in New York City as well as identifying the main factors involved in such collisions. Dr.

Daniel Klem Daniel Klem Jr. is an American ornithologist, known for his pioneering research into the mortality of birds due to glass windows. He is a Sarkis Acopian Professor of Ornithology and Conservation Biology at Muhlenberg College. He has been teachi ...

Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Muhlenberg, the German patriarch of Luthera ...

, an international authority on the bird collision topic, is leading the study. The project, funded by a grant from

US Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

with matching funds from corporations and individuals, relies on local citizen scientists to monitor nearly 80 sites in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

over the course of two migration seasons. Over 20 volunteers are involved in the monitoring effort

Lights Out New York

Light pollution contributes to bird collisions. In 2005

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

’s administration endorsed a voluntary New York City Audubon program that encourages tall buildings to turn out external lights between midnight and 6 AM and shield interior lights as well. The

Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...

, Bank of America Tower, and

New York Times Building The New York Times Building is a 52-story skyscraper at 620 Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, between 40th and 41st Streets, on the west side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Its chief tenant is the New York Times Company, publis ...

are among the nearly 100 buildings participating in the program.Urban Green Council Blog on Lights Out NY: http://blog.urbangreencouncil.org/2011/08/lights-out-new-york-save-energy-save-birds/

Harbor Herons Project

Unknown to most, even to many

birdwatchers Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

, the small islands of the highly commercialized and heavily developed New York/New Jersey Estuary are home to one of the Atlantic Coast's largest colonies of nesting

herons The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

– with more than 3,000 individuals. Since 1985, New York City Audubon has managed the nesting sites.

References

External links