For the Birds (2016)

Every year on September 11, the Tribute in Light commemorates the victims of the terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 2001. One unanticipated consequence of the memorial - which consists of 88 7,000-watt bulbs that form two beams of light, visible from miles away - is the adverse effect they have on migrating birds that pass over Lower Manhattan at this time. "Songbirds use visual cues to migrate at night," says Debra Kriensky of New York City Audubon. "Strong beams of light can actually pull them in and disorient them." As a result, the birds, darting willy-nilly through the lights, can become exhausted, lose their way and crash into skyscraper windows, or, in rare cases, plummet to their death. To protect the migrating flocks, NYC Audubon trains volunteers to monitor the birds from the base of the display. They make periodic tallies; when the total exceeds 1,000, the lights are turned off until the birds safely pass through. This year, 30 Audubon staffers and volunteers kept watch through the night. As Jennifer Hellman, associate producer of Tribute in Light, puts it, "There should be no death in honoring the dead."