TEHRAN – The light shining on the glass of the buildings at night creates vision errors for migratory birds, which kills many of them every year.

Every year, many migratory birds are killed by hitting glass buildings that have many artificial light sources next to them.

World Migratory Bird Day is a campaign to raise awareness and emphasize the protection of migratory birds and their habitats. Every year, the second Saturday of May and October is known as World Migratory Bird Day.

This year, October 21st was the World Day of Winter Migratory Birds, for which the slogan "Turning off the lights for the safe return of migratory birds to their home" has been chosen.

Too much light and the reflection of light on glass and walls causes thousands of birds to die every year because some birds turn to a light source such as stars, the moon, or any other natural light at night. Instinctively, they are used to looking at it and moving toward it.

Alireza Hashemi, an ornithologist, said in an interview with ISNA said that some birds migrate during the day and some at night. At night, birds determine their migration route based on lights such as starlight, but excessive light pollution disrupts this route.

In fact, many skyscrapers in the world kill thousands of birds every year because they did not make the conditions suitable for the environment and birds, he lamented.

In many cases, industries keep oil pits, oil ponds, and other polluting materials as open ponds, and their surface becomes shiny by light, and birds regard these ponds as a water bed and land in them.

If the environmental pollution is severe, they will die immediately, and if these ponds contain oil materials, they will be trapped after landing on it due to the high stickiness of the oil.

In addition to light pollution, air pollution, water, and food pollution, also affect the health of birds. In Iran, we have not done many in-depth studies on birds, but due to the special respiratory system of birds, air pollution has destructive effects on them, he said.

There are some sources of pollution in their food, because some heavy metals enter their bodies and are not eliminated, but accumulate and kill the birds at once, even if the birds do not die, it has a negative effect on their reproduction, and as a result, causes their population to decrease.

Migratory birds do not belong to only one habitat and country, and taking care of them and observing environmental tips to keep them safe requires a collective will and international unity, he highlighted.

Iran hosting species of migratory birds

The annual census for migratory birds in Iran begins in the middle of the Iranian calendar month of Dey (December 22-January 20) and ends in the middle of the month of Bahman (January 21-February 19), through which Iran hosts rare species of migratory birds heading from north to the southern countries due to reduced seasonal temperatures and food availability.

About 61,493 migratory birds were on the IUCN Red List, including the Dalmatian pelican, lesser white-fronted goose, red-breasted goose, common pochard, marbled duck, white-headed duck, Siberian crane, and great knot, which were observed in various parts of the country.

The largest population of migratory birds on the IUCN Red List belonged to the common pochard species with a population of 53,882 and the lowest population belonged to the two species of Siberian crane (one) and the red-breasted goose (two).

Mazandaran, Golestan, and Gilan provinces hosts the largest population of migratory waterfowl and shorebirds in the winter.

Every year, with the participation of about 15,000 forces, many of whom are volunteers, migratory waterfowl and shorebirds are counted in more than 100 countries.

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