The still classic lighthouse at Fire Island is distinctive for many reasons, among which is its prominent place in the first-known history of bird strikes along the eastern Atlantic Ocean shore.
"The light is of the first order, flashing white every minute; is 168 feet above the level of the sea, and is visible 19 ¼ nautical miles. It is located on the east side of Fire Island Inlet, south side of Long Island, N.Y."
Due to the attention and efforts of the eventually reknowned William Dutcher - chairman of the American Ornithologists' Union Committee on the Protection of North American Birds, and founder of the National Association of Audubon Societies - the deadly impacts which occurred at this site can still be considered. When Dutcher wrote about this place and what it meant to migratory birds based on his focus of attention, it presented the particulars of variety of birds which struck the structure and were killed more than a century and 25 years in the past, during the first years of North America's burgeoning history of birds.
"For the purpose of determining the date of migration, the species migrating, and the numbers that are destroyed by striking a light-house during a spring and fall migration, I have for the past two years received all the birds killed by flying against the Fire Island Light."
His published results convey the detail needed to indicate a set of 751 records for 1882 and 1883 which document in detail the species and numbers which struck the light-house and were killed and then documented. This one of the article he prepared which dealt with bird notes from Long Island during this period.
This information could not have been determined without the able effort to gather the many carcasses by C.A. Blydenburgh, First Assistant Keeper, during 1882 and spring 1883, then by S.R. Hubbard, Keeper, during the autumn of 1883. These two men apparently searched for and gathered dead birds and sent them to Dutcher, who made an identification and eventually prepared the article published in the first volume of the Auk, at that time just a fledgling journal of ornithology.
The article included brief notations for some of the dates, especially on the wind conditions and its prevalent direction. There were a few other interesting notes:
May 9 records, with note from morning of May 10: "I send you thirteen birds which struck against the tower last night. A great many struck, but these are the only dead ones.
May 18 and 19; note on May 20: "I forward you ten birds which struck during the past two nights. Quite a number more struck, but it was impossible to get them. Many fall in the grass at some distance from the foot of the tower, and cannot be found until after they are spoiled."
Deadly Place on the Long Island Beach
There were more than 750 individual birds that were denoted in the article, with 65 species represented, plus a gull and scoter. There were 37 types which had more than one instance of a bird strike. The species were listed by scientific name, which has been updated to current avian nomenclature.
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These are those species which had one known instance mentioned in the bird-strike records listed in the article: American Golden-Plover, American Pipit, American Tree Sparrow, Belted Kingfisher, Black Scoter, Black-and-white Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Bobolink, Canada Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Clapper Rail, Common Tern, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Greater Scaup, Greater Yellowlegs, Horned Lark, Lincoln's Sparrow, Magnolia Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, Scoter, Seaside Sparrow, Spotted Sandpiper, White-crowned Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yellow-throated Vireo.
For further consideration of the historic observations, the records were entered into a database and each date of occurrence was converted to a Julian date, to determine and evaluate those days when the strikes occurred during the year, and when the greater number of recorded strikes took place, as this is a means to indicate a "calendar" of when bird strikes occur during the year.
Historic view of the Fire Island Lighthouse. Courtesy of Wikipedia. |
- Julian Date - Number of Instances
- 5 - 1
- 13 - 2
- 24 - 1
- 45 - 1
- 58 - 1
- 62 - 1
- 94 - 7
- 97 - 2
- 101 - 1
- 104 - 2
- 129 - 11
- 135 - 14; 15 May 1883
- 139 - 9
- 141 - 5; 21 May 1882
- Apparently there were no records for the approximately nine-week period from the last week of May to mid-August.
- 225 - 1; 13 August 1882
- 226 - 1
- 232 - 1
- 241 - 1
- 244 - 1
- 246 - 4
- 252 - 20
- Overall, September 30th was the deadliest date recorded, with a multitude of carcasses found and identified for this time during the autumn migration. This was the denoted tally for the 11 species:
- American Golden-Plover - 1
- Black-billed Cuckoo - 9
- Blackpoll Warbler - 230
- Belted Kingfisher - 1
- Connecticut Warbler - 16
- Eastern Phoebe - 2
- Northern Parula - 2
- Scarlet Tanager - 7
- Veery - 29
- White-eyed Vireo - 20
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
- 253 - 2
- 256 - 4
- 259 - 2
- 263 - 54
- 264 - 4
- 267 - 2
- 272 - 41
- 273 - 321; 30 September 1883
- 277 - 10
- 279 - 2
- 284 - 36
- 285 - 113; 12 October 1882
- 286 - 7
- 288 - 1
- 291 - 1
- 293 - 1
- 294 - 1
- 309 - 1
- 314 - 13
- 315 - 5
- 316 - 1
- 320 - 3
- 334 - 1
- 336 - 37; 2 December 1882
- 344 - 1
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"I send you a box of birds which struck Sunday night, Sept. 30. It is the first regular flight this fall, when the weather has been favorable for them to strike. I send one bird I don't remember to have ever seen strike before, viz., a kingfisher. - S.R. Hubbard |
Dutcher summarized the findings for the two seasons:
| 1882 | 1883 | |
| Total in spring migration: | 28 | 45 |
| Total in autumn migration: | 228 | 517 |
| Total for year: | 256 | 562 |
| Species in spring: | 14 | 21 |
| Species in autumn: | 38 | 27 |
Historic Ornithology Considered
The Fire Island lighthouse began its operation in 1858, according to historic sources, and replaced a lighthouse that had been working since 1826.
No information on whether bird strikes still occur at this locality could be found during a cursory search on the internet. Whatever the current situation, the article prepared by William Dutcher is an important research effort in the annals of historic ornithology, adding many detailed particulars for known bird strikes at lighthouses. This was enough of a reason for the information to be entered into a database of historic bird records so it might be analyzed further, and be replicated beyond what is a vital, yet static article in a bird journal.
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