Two illuminated beams honoring victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks went off briefly Friday night after birds drawn to the soaring light got trapped.
Hundreds of birds get stuck in the Tribute in Light memorial while migrating through New York City, the Audubon Society said.
The birds circle in the light until they get exhausted and confused, causing them to fall down and hit nearby buildings or get severely burned by the lights, it said.
“This is something that’s going on for the past few years, we have a team of scientists and volunteers … who come up on the roof and count the birds that get trapped in the light,” said David J. Ringer, a spokesman for the city’s Audubon Society.
The lights attract birds ranging from fledgling seabirds to migrating songbirds.
Usually the birds don’t gather until midnight, but this year, the weather conditions prompted them to flock to the artificial lights earlier.
The volunteers look for signs from the birds to decide when to shut the lights off.
“When there is more than a thousand or if the birds keep getting lower and lower and you can hear them calling when they migrate or if we find a dead bird,” said Susan Elbin, director of conservation and science at the Audubon Society.
As soon as the birds get too disoriented, they work with the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which is in charge of putting on the lights every year.
It turns them off for 20 minutes so the birds can disperse, Elbin said.
She said no dead birds have been discovered so far.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum was not immediately available to comment.
Tribute in Light memorial features two blue beams of light in the shape of the Twin Towers that illuminate the sky near the World Trade Center site.
