纽约如何为上百万的候鸟保驾护航?

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说明: 本文选自10月28日最新《经济学人》, 上方扫码加微信即可领取。

Birds of New York 纽约鸟类

How to make NYC work better for its winged inhabitants
如何让纽约市的有翼居民生活得更好

Some small changes to building design can result in many fewer dead migrating birds
对建筑设计稍作改动，就能减少许多候鸟的死亡数量

EARLY-RISING NEW YORKERS may spot an unusual patrol group in Manhattan this autumn. They sport sensible shoes, latex gloves and an armful of brown paper bags. As in spring, they comb the streets for migrating birds that have struck windows. They are Project Safe Flight volunteers, out to save the injured and count the dead.
今年秋天，早起的纽约人可能会在曼哈顿发现一支不同寻常的巡逻队。他们穿着合脚的鞋子，戴着乳胶手套，手里拎着牛皮纸袋。和春天一样，他们在街上搜寻撞到窗户的候鸟。他们是 "安全飞行项目 "的志愿者，负责抢救受伤的候鸟和统计其死亡数量。

It is a tough gig. Fruzsina Agocs saw her first yellow-billed cuckoo, a shy species that is hard to spot, dead on the pavement. “That was not the way I wanted to see it,” she says. But she is cautiously optimistic that she will have fewer such encounters in the future. In the past couple of years New York has moved to the forefront of a push to make cities more welcoming to their avian neighbours.
这是一项艰苦的工作。Fruzsina Agocs 第一次看到死在人行道上的黄嘴杜鹃，这种害羞的鸟类很难被发现。"她说："这不是我想看到的样子。但她谨慎乐观地认为，今后这样的遭遇会越来越少。在过去的几年里，纽约在推动城市更加欢迎鸟类邻居方面走在了前列。

New York—like Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington—sits underneath the “Atlantic Flyway”, an ancient migration route travelled by millions of birds, from teeny warblers to long-legged shorebirds, every spring and autumn. Up to a quarter of a million of them die colliding with windows in New York every year, according to New York City Audubon, the bird charity that organises Project Flight Safe. Birds confuse reflections of sky or vegetation for the real thing and fly straight for them.
纽约与费城、巴尔的摩和华盛顿一样，都位于 "大西洋航道 "的下方，这是一条古老的迁徙路线，每年春秋两季都有数以百万计的鸟类飞过，从娇小的莺鸟到长腿的岸禽。据组织 "飞行安全项目 "的鸟类慈善机构纽约市奥杜邦协会称，每年有多达 25 万只鸟在纽约死于与窗户的碰撞。鸟类会把天空或植被的倒影误认为是真实的东西，并径直飞向它们。

In 2021, however, new legislation came into force in New York requiring all new buildings and renovations to be made bird-friendly. Specifically, they must use glass that birds recognise as surfaces, which is usually achieved by incorporating tiny dots. It is the most stringent such legislation in America, spurred by the compelling case of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Centre in west Manhattan. It used to be a top bird-killer, but after swapping its panes for bird-friendly glass in 2013 strikes dropped by 90%. The centre has now fully embraced bird life. Its green roof is home to a breeding herring gull colony, and as of October 18th, 62 different species have been spotted there—most recently tree-climbing brown creepers and colourful northern parulas.
不过，2021 年，纽约开始实施新的立法，要求所有新建和翻新的建筑都必须对鸟类友好。具体来说，它们必须使用能被鸟类识别为表面的玻璃，这通常是通过加入小圆点来实现的。这是美国最严格的此类立法, 这是受到曼哈顿西区雅各布·K·贾维茨会议中心令人信服的做法的鞭策而设立的一则法案。该会议中心曾是鸟类的头号杀手，但在 2013 年将玻璃换成对鸟类友好的玻璃后，鸟类的撞击率下降了90%。现在，该中心已经完全适合鸟类生活。它的绿色屋顶是鲱海鸥繁殖地的所在地，截至10月18日，已经发现了62种不同的鸟类——最近发现的是美洲旋木雀和色彩斑斓的北森莺。

Other places are now following New York’s lead. Maryland’s version of the law went into effect this month, and Washington, DC’s will begin next year. And while the law does not apply to New York’s 1m existing buildings, some are taking voluntary steps. This month the Circa building by Central Park, another infamous bird-killer, covered its courtyard windows with translucent UV dot stickers that are more visible to birds than humans, hoping to shed its bad reputation.
其他地方也在效仿纽约的做法。马里兰州的法律已于本月生效，华盛顿特区的法律将于明年开始实施。虽然该法不适用于纽约现有的 100 万栋建筑，但一些建筑正在采取自愿措施。本月，另一座臭名昭著的 "鸟类杀手"——中央公园旁的 Circa大厦在其庭院窗户上贴上了半透明的紫外线点贴纸，鸟类比人类更容易看到这些贴纸，希望借此摆脱其恶名。

At night artificial light draws birds into the city, where they are more likely to crash; some studies suggest it disorients them because it interferes with their ability to navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field. Last year the city passed a law that requires all city-owned and managed buildings to switch their lights off at night during migration. An expanded bill, which would extend the requirement to privately owned commercial buildings all year, is in committee in the council. Though exemptions would be allowed for icons such as the Empire State and the Chrysler Building, the change would still transform the world’s most famous skyline.
晚上，人造光会把鸟儿吸引到城市里，使它们更容易坠落；一些研究表明，人造光会干扰鸟儿利用地球磁场导航的能力，从而使它们失去方向感。去年，该市通过了一项法律，要求所有城市拥有和管理的建筑物在迁徙期间关闭夜间灯光。议会委员会正在审议一项扩大法案，该法案将把这一要求扩大到全年的私有商业建筑。虽然帝国大厦和克莱斯勒大厦等标志性建筑可以豁免，但这一变化仍将改变世界上最著名的天际线。

Jessica Wilson of NYC Audubon says that would be a good thing for birds, energy consumption and people. New York is on track to become the most bird-friendly big city in America. If the bill passes, “it would be a model for the entire country”. ■
纽约市奥杜邦的杰西卡·威尔逊（Jessica Wilson）说，这对鸟类、能源消耗和人类来说都是一件好事。纽约有望成为美国最爱鸟的大城市。如果该法案获得通过，"它将成为整个国家的典范"。■