Birds are dying by smashing into NYC skyscrapers in record numbers heres potentially why

Birds are dying in record numbers this autumn by flying full-speed into Big Apple buildings, lured to their deaths by glassy skyscrapers — with the sleek Battery Park City corridor among the city’s biggest death traps.There are almost 1,000 known cases of migratory birds obliviously smashing headfirst into the mirage-like reflective buildings since August — a whopping 53% increase from last year’s strike toll.But experts warn the vast majority of bird strikes go uncounted — as unusually high winds and low clouds this year had the migrating flocks flying faster and at lower altitudes than normal.“Fall of this year has been really hard,” Dr.Dustin Partridge, NYC Bird Alliance’s director of conservation and science, told The Post Tuesday.“We’re still waiting on a little bit of the data to come in, but based on the data that we currently have, we’re already approaching record numbers of birds collided.”The reflection of the glassy skyscrapers — which seemingly blend into the sky — has plagued migrating birds for decades, but this autumn’s weather patterns may be to blame for the skyrocketing number of collisions, experts said.The wind and low-cloud ceiling pushed an estimated 25 million migrating birds directly into high-risk areas, including a particularly deadly skyscraper hotspot along lower Manhattan’s Hudson River coastline.As many as 50 struck birds landed in Rockefeller and Teardrop Parks in 2024 alone, with another 100 smashing into the sparkling One World Trade Center and neighboring Brookfield Place, according to dBird, a crowd-sourced data tracker for the tragedy.“It’s upsetting.

We keep building glass towers, so it keeps happening, which is really awful,” said Regina Overath, a horticulturist with Battery Park City Authority, who plucks dozens of dead birds off the ground of the neighborhood each migration season.Overath and her team members bury the unfortunate victims in the coastal park’s garden bed, but try to ca...