2. 玻璃一年奪走上億「鳥」命 美國大樓不想再當候鳥殺手
每到遷徙時節,候鳥飛越數千公里,躲過天敵與天災,卻在「玻璃叢林」裡丟了性命。北美都會區嚴重的「窗殺」引起大眾關注,自發投入防止窗殺的工作。芝加哥麥考密克展覽中心(McCormick Place)的大樓一夜之間「殺死」近千隻候鳥。當地鳥類專家威勒德(David Willard)隔天早上目睹了這一幕,長年追蹤窗殺事件的他大受震撼,「窗前就像鋪上了鳥屍做的地毯。」
窗殺的原因有幾種:乾淨透明的玻璃有時連人類眼睛都難以察覺,鳥類的雙眼主要在頭部兩側、沒有3D視覺,因此不容易注意到玻璃。牠們看到玻璃反射出的植栽,就一頭衝撞過去。此外,夜晚遷徙的鳥類常仰賴星光導航,城市大樓的燈光會迷惑牠們的方向感。有時牠們撞上窗戶,有的不斷繞行燈光直到力竭墜地,這種現象稱為「致命光害吸引」。
我的練習
In the migration season, migratory birds fly more than thousands of kilometres. After they escape from the enemy or disaster, they die in the ‘glass jungle’. In the downtown of North America. Birds’ Glass collisions get attention. People help birds to avoid glass collisions proactively. Chicago McCormick Place kills almost one thousand birds in one night. Local bird expert David Willard sees these the next day. He spent his life researching glass collisions, but he was still stunned.’I see the carpet which is made by bird corpus, in front of Chicago McCormick Place’s windows, he said.
The reason for glass collision is that glass is so transparent that even humans can’t see it clearly. The bird’s eye is on the side of their head. They don’t have 3D vision. Therefore, they can’t see glass. They see plants’ reflections on the window and bump into the glass. Besides this situation, when birds immigrate at night. They rely on starlight to navigate. Streetlights of the city make birds lose their sense of direction. Some of them hit the windows. Some of them spin around until they are exhausted. This phenomenon is called ‘fatal light attraction ‘.