There are over 77,000 communications towers in the US, which provide nationwide coverage for cellular telephone, television and radio, paging, messaging, wireless data and other industries. Nearly 50,000 of these towers are required by the Federal Communications Commission to be lit, either because they are over 199 ft. tall, are in the immediate vicinity of an airport, or are situated along major highway travel routes. About 5,000 new towers are currently being built each year but this rate is expected to increase with developing cellular telephone and digital television networks. Bird kills caused by towers, their guy wires and related structures have been documented for over 50 years but there has been insufficient investigation of the extent of tower kills and which species have been affected. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimates that four to five million birds are killed annually at such towers, although this could be as many as 40 million. However only a cumulative impacts study will answer that question. This report analyzes 149 documents describing tower kills, 47 of which provide data on both the numbers and species of birds killed at selected towers. No such analysis has been done before. [ - ]

There are over 77,000 communications towers in the US, which provide nationwide coverage for... [ + ]