[TowerTalk] Potential New FCC Tower Construction Threat

[Michael Keane K1MK]

Well, if it was a turkey, that'd be okay; I sure hope it wasn't a 
hawk. You really don't want to go messing with them migratory birds. 
At least you didn't leave any evidence behind.  :-)

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA) makes it, among other 
things, "unlawful at any time, by any means or in any manner," to 
kill or attempt to kill any migratory bird except as authorized under 
a valid permit.

The courts have read the MBTA as prohibiting any activity that 
results in the death of a migratory bird, not just hunting. Thus, 
private and commercial activities that have the incidental and 
unintentional side effect of killing migratory birds have been found 
to be violations of the MBTA. And to show a violation, the government 
does not have to prove any intent on the part of the defendant to 
violate the statute, as the MBTA imposes strict liability for violations.

Hit one migratory bird with a truck or whack one with a pebble thrown 
up while mowing your lawn and, in principle, a FWS agent could be 
coming after you.

To get this back onto the subject of towers, ensuring compliance with 
the MBTA is one of the motivating factors cited by the FWS in raising 
the matter of towers and bird kills with the FCC. The FWS argues that 
the broad statutory language of the MBTA prohibits the unintended 
death of even one migratory bird caused by a collision with a tower.

One can only guess what the FWS might have to say about everybody's 
windows. In dealing with such zealots, one can only hope that reason 
will prevail on someone else.

Be careful out there. And watch out for the birdies....

73,
Mike K1MK

At 11:09 AM 12/11/06, Dennis OConnor wrote:
>Birds kill themselves in all ways... It will be roughly a million 
>years before natural selection has selected birds that don't slam 
>into windows and towers and such... Interesting that this topic 
>should come up - I was hit by a bird this morning on the way to the 
>office... Pitch black... I'm doing maybe 38-40 mph on a rural 
>road... In the peripheral vision of my left eye I pick up movement 
>from the left and instantly there is a nearly deafening thud against 
>the upper door post that rocks a 5,000#  truck...  The dog had been 
>sleeping and he is up and scared to death it was that loud and that 
>violent...
>In after vision my brain says it was speckled grey as it flashed 
>through the reflected headlights off the pavement...  I stop and get 
>out and expect to see damage, but the sheet metal and window looks 
>ok in the flashlight... I turn around and go back looking in the big 
>ditch and out in the field for the bird... I don't see it in the 
>dark... It could have been a hawk but given the solid impact I more 
>suspect a turkey... Wonder why it was flying the blackness and why 
>it didn't avoid a white truck all lit up... I doubt it survived the impact...
>
>denny / k8do

Michael Keane K1MK
k1mk at alum.mit.edu