According to domestic media reports on September 17, hundreds of migratory birds migrating through New York recently died after hitting the glass facades of multiple buildings. A local New York volunteer said on social media that the carcasses of nearly 300 birds were found near the World Trade Center, a "mass casualty incident."
A particularly high number of bird deaths have also been reported this week. Caitlin Perkins, head of a local nature conservation and science organization in New York, pointed out that the stormy weather from September 13 to September 14 local time was one of the causes of death. The storm may have caused the birds to fly lower, or disoriented them. "Nocturnal light can greatly influence the judgment of birds, especially on cloudy nights." In response, the nature conservation group hopes that the World Trade Center tower and other buildings will reduce bird impacts by dimming lights and treating glass at night.
This is not the first time that there have been mass bird deaths in the United States due to extreme weather. On January 16, 2020, according to lianhe Zaobao, some scientists said that the heat wave that occurred from 2014 to 2016 caused the death of about 1 million cliff crows, becoming the largest collective death in bird history. It is reported that between 2014 and 2016, the anomalous warm water areas that continue to exist in the coastal waters of North America encountered a strong El Niño climate formed along the equator, resulting in an ocean heat wave from California to Alaska.
Affected by these extreme climates, between 2015 and 2016, about 62,000 emaciated or dead cliff crows were washed up on the Pacific coast of North America. Because only a small percentage of cliff crows can be found within reach, scientists estimate that the number of dead cliff crows ranges from 500,000 to 1.2 million. In light of this, Perris, a biologist at the University of Washington, said that heat waves are becoming more frequent and related to climate change.
It is important to note that recently all parts of the United States are facing challenges posed by extreme weather. In early September, Hurricane Ada was the fifth-largest hurricane in history to hit the continental United States. It dealt a heavy blow to Louisiana, which landed first. To that end, U.S. President Joe Biden declared Louisiana into a state of "major catastrophe," a life-threatening storm that continues to wreak havoc and destroy everything it can reach!" ”
Meanwhile, the Caldo wildfire has burned more than 600 buildings and burned nearly 446 square kilometers. Affected by the Kaldor wildfire, residents in the area around Lake Tahoe on the border between California and Nevada in the country received emergency evacuation warnings. To make matters worse, post-tropical cyclone Nicholas hovered in the middle of the Gulf Coast, weather warnings of heavy rainfall in the coming days, and millions of people across the country under flash flood warnings, some of which had just been hit by Hurricane Ada.
Against this backdrop, Biden warned that these disasters are a reminder that a climate crisis has arrived. In fact, extreme weather has become a serious problem facing the world. A recent report by the United Nations agency, the World Meteorological Organization, shows that in the past 50 years, the number of natural disasters such as droughts, storms and floods caused by climate change has increased fivefold, causing more than 2 million deaths worldwide. According to the British media "Guardian", the report "issues the harshest warning to date that human behavior is accelerating global warming and that the global climate system is facing imminent and terrible risks".