KATHMANDU: Towers are slowly becoming the gravestone for birds. The creatures that should be filling the sky with color and rhythm are rotting beneath our buildings. In a country blessed with nearly 900 species of birds, our hunger for connection is creating a deadly disconnect. Read on to discover how our rapid development is a silent curse for the fragile creatures flying above.

Nepal’s skies are filled with songbirds. Songbirds are birds that attract mates and mark territory by producing musical sounds. What makes them vulnerable is that they migrate long distances twice a year. House Sparrow (Bhangera), Myna (Maina), Red Vented Bulbul (Jureli), Black Drongo (Chibe), and Spiny Babbler: Nepal’s only endemic bird, which means it is only found in Nepal, are the common types of Songbirds of Nepal.

When these birds are migrating at night, the artificial sources of light, especially the ones of massive TV, radio, and broadcast towers at their migration altitude, attract them. As soon as they come in contact with the artificial bright light suddenly from the low night light, their eyes can’t handle it, and they become temporarily blind.

They start seeing the light beam as a physical border they cannot cross. They find themselves trapped in the borders. It generally takes them 15 to 45 minutes to come out of the light trap, but some birds never do. They swirl around the light in a circular path for hours, burning their stored fat and energy unless their muscles literally fail.

Ultimately, they die. This phenomenon even has a specific name, called phototaxis of birds. Phototaxis can be both useful and harmful for different organisms. Many people think they mistakenly hit the tower and fell, but that is absolutely not the reason!

The light waves don’t just trap the birds, it leaves them clueless in the sky, failing their biological superpower. Many organisms, including birds, can sense and detect the Earth’s Magnetic field, the superpower. They have a special type of protein in their eyes and nervous system that acts like a compass and allows them to feel the Earth’s Magnetic Field. Something that took centuries for humans to determine, and now we cause this superpower to fail. The process also has a specific name, Magnetoreception. It helps the birds to navigate during migration.

They have magnetic senses. This gets disturbed even by a weak radiofrequency radiation from cell towers, let alone high-frequency towers; it leaves them aimless in the sky. They forget their migration path. Also, long-term exposure to these fields thins the eggshells. It damages the delicate cells before they even hatch.

So, should we just halt these technological developments? No. Birds are everywhere; they even migrate through the city full of towers and skyscrapers, New York. But New York has an 11 PM to 6 AM “Lights out” law for buildings at the same altitude as the birds. It requires buildings to turn off all non-essential outdoor lights and dim indoor lights during the peak migration season.

Also, NYC requires all newly constructed buildings to have patterned glass. These patterns must follow the “2×4 rule,” which means they should be spaced no more than 2 inches apart vertically and 4 inches apart horizontally, because birds will try to fly through any gap larger than that, thinking it’s open air. And for the towers, the lights of the towers should be flashing; birds are drawn to continuous, steady lights. Red or white lights make the birds directionless; however, green and blue lights are completely safe for birds, but they aren’t as easy to spot as red or white ones for airplanes. So, we can use them for our outdoor lights instead.

The government should propose infrastructure sharing to lessen the number of towers. Towers can also install virtual radar sensors that track the night sky; the moment an airplane approaches, the safety lights turn on, then automatically turn back off. It’s just the simple adjustments that need to be adapted.

Let’s give our birds a chance to escape. Advocate for the voiceless. Save the singers, superpower holders. Save lives. Dim the lights for birds at night!