1968 Birmingham Tower Casualties
Spring and fall collections were made of bird casualties at WAPI and WBRC television towers in Birmingham, Jefferson Co., Alabama. The towers are located on Red Mountain and are described in Alabama Birdlife 16:4 (34). In addition, it should be noted that the support cables for the towers are spaced along their length and the cables on each side of each tower join in a common point on the ground. An alternate tower construction is the connection of each individual cable to the ground at expanding intervals. It would seem that the greater the angle of the wire from the vertical tower, the greater the amount of exposed wire at higher elevations and the greater the probability of tower casualties. These towers are built with the least amount of exposed wire and may be, therefore, less obstructive to migrating birds.
Author: Michael Lee Bierly
Volume Number: 17 Year Published: 1969
Issue Number: 2
Page Number: 46
Link to article: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1969/Vol 17 No. 2_1969_p46-49.pdf
Link to the full issue of BirdLife: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1969/Vol 17 No. 2_1969.pdf