The Avian Collision Team is a volunteer effort to monitor bird-window strikes in downtown Boston. This fall was the second season, running from early August to mid-October. Volunteers walked 7 survey routes from Saturday to Tuesday between 6 and 9 a.m., finding a total of 74 individuals. This makes 193 total strikes between the fall and spring seasons.
Birds that were alive but injured, which was about a quarter of the time, were taken to Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine to be rehabilitated and released. Those that were deceased were collected and donated to the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology’s Ornithology department to be used as study specimen.
Note: Mass Audubon’s volunteers collect specimen with a permit from the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. It is illegal to collect birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Table 1 shows a preliminary roundup of the window-strike species found by ACT volunteers. Locations and images can be found on iNaturalist, where other citizen scientists around the world are submitting similar window-strike data on a project called “Bird-window collisions”.
Table 1: Number of individuals of each species found by ACT
| White-throated Sparrow. . . | 23 | House Finch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 3 | Black-billed Cuckoo. . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Ovenbird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 22 | Northern Waterthrush. . . . . . . | 3 | Yellow-billed Cuckoo . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Common Yellowthroat . . . . | 19 | Blackpoll Warbler. . . . . . . . . . . | 3 | Red-eyed Vireo. . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Hermit Thrush . . . . . . . . . . . | 7 | Northern Flicker . . . . . . . . . . . . | 2 | Blue-headed Vireo . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Black-and-white Warbler. . | 7 | American Robin. . . . . . . . . . . . . | 2 | Blue Jay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Lincoln’s Sparrow . . . . . . . . | 6 | Song Sparrow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 2 | European Starling . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Magnolia Warbler. . . . . . . . | 5 | Nashville Warbler. . . . . . . . . . . | 2 | Cedar Waxwing . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| American Redstart . . . . . . . | 5 | Chestnut-sided Warbler. . . . . . | 2 | Veery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Brown Creeper . . . . . . . . . . | 4 | Black-throated Green Warbler | 2 | Chipping Sparrow. . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet . . | 4 | Canada Warbler. . . . . . . . . . . . | 2 | Clay-colored Sparrow. . . . . . . | 1 |
| Dark-eyed Junco . . . . . . . . . | 4 | Indigo Bunting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 2 | Swamp Sparrow . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Savannah Sparrow. . . . . . . | 4 | Virginia Rail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 | Pine Warbler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Northern Parula . . . . . . . . . | 4 | Belted Kingfisher. . . . . . . . . . . | 1 | Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 |
| American Woodcock . . . . . | 3 | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. . . . . | 1 | Palm Warbler. . . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 3 | Red-bellied Woodpecker . . . . | 1 | House Sparrow. . . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
| Mourning Dove . . . . . . . . . . . | 3 | Red-breasted Nuthatch. . . . . . | 1 | Brown-headed Cowbird . . . | 1 |
| Swainson’s Thrush . . . . . . . . . | 3 | White-breasted Nuthatch. . . . | 1 | Baltimore Oriole . . . . . . . . . | 1 |
Note: This list is still being updated as we finalize our data
As evident in Table 1, window collisions in downtown Boston during the times in which we survey are primarily migratory species. Much like moths to a light bulb, migrating birds are drawn to city lights during their nighttime migratory journeys. They land in cities and in the early mornings when they re-orient themselves and look for food, they fly into glass windows. Learn more about this hazard and how you can do something about it on Mass Audubon’s website.
ACT will start again during spring migration, running its third season from April 11 – June 2. Sign up to be a volunteer and direct questions to [email protected].