CHICAGO (CBS) — Forty thousand birds have died hitting McCormick Place since 1978 , and last year during peak migration, 1,000 birds died in one night.
So as peak migration approaches again this fall, there are changes at McCormick Place to prevent the high number of bird deaths.
This is the time of year when birds make their trek across Lake Michigan before it gets too cold. Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Chairman Jeff Bethke explained why McCormick Place is a major hazard for those birds.
“This facility is right on the lake, as you’ll see, and we’ve had issues with bird strikes—as do many homes just in their windows,” he said.
On Thursday, Oct. 5 last year, 961 birds died all in one night after crashing into the windows at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center—the oldest part of the McCormick Place complex, which dates back to 1971.
“It was really that incident that made us realize that we needed to up our game as it related to preventing those bird fatalities,” Bethke said.