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About a billion birds die from flying into buildings each year in North America. Suspicions have been that birds may perceive the open areas behind glass as safe passageways. Or they may mistake the reflected foliage for the real thing.
北美每年约有10亿只鸟因撞上建筑物而死亡。人们怀疑鸟类可能是将玻璃后面的开放区域当成了安全通道。或者它们可能是将被反射的植物误认成了真植物。
Researchers would like to reduce collisions, which requires a solid understanding about what makes a bird more or less likely to die by smacking into a building in the first place.
研究人员希望减少（这种）撞击，这就首先需要了解清楚是什么原因让鸟儿或多或少地容易因为撞上建筑物而死亡。
"There was, and still is, relatively little known at a broad scale. Most studies are at one small study site." Jared Elmore, a graduate student in natural resource ecology and management at Oklahoma State University.
“从过去到现在，我们（对于鸟类撞击建筑物）的了解在大范围内而言都相对较少。大多数研究都只是在一个小的研究地点进行的。”俄克拉荷马州立大学自然资源生态与管理学研究生贾里德·埃尔莫尔如是说到。
He and his colleagues used a previously created data set of building collisions for birds at 40 sites throughout Mexico, Canada and the U.S.
他和同事使用了此前创立的数据库，包括在墨西哥、加拿大和美国境内40个地点采集到的鸟类撞击建筑物的数据。
The first finding was obvious: bigger buildings with more glass kill more birds. But the details were more noteworthy.
第一个发现是显而易见的：建筑物越大、玻璃越多，杀死的鸟儿就越多。但细节更值得注意。
"We found that life history predicted collisions. Migrants, insectivores and woodland-inhabiting species collided more than their counterparts." Most migratory species travel at night, when lights near buildings can distract or disorient them.
“我们发现（鸟类）生活史预测了撞击情况。迁徙鸟类、食虫鸟类和栖居于林地的鸟类撞击次数要多于同类。”大多数迁徙鸟类在夜间飞行，那时建筑物附近的灯光会分散它们的注意力或使它们迷失方向。
And Elmore thinks that insect-eating birds might be attracted to buildings because their insect prey is attracted to the lights. He suspects that woodland species get fooled by the reflections of trees and shrubs in the windows. The results are in the journal Conservation Biology.
埃尔莫尔认为，食虫鸟类会被吸引到建筑物附近可能是因为其昆虫猎物会被灯光吸引。他怀疑林地鸟类被窗户上的树木和灌木的倒影所迷惑。这项研究发表在《保护生物学》杂志上。
By understanding which birds are more likely to collide with buildings, researchers can perhaps determine the best way to modify buildings, or their lighting, to help prevent such accidents.
通过了解哪些鸟类更容易撞上建筑物，研究人员或许可以确定改造建筑物或灯光的最佳方法，以帮助防止此类事故的发生。
And by knowing risks, along with migration timing and behavior, building managers can better anticipate when birds are at their greatest danger—and modify lighting strategies accordingly.
通过了解迁徙时机、行为以及风险，建筑管理者可以更好地预测鸟类何时处于最大危险，并相应地修改照明策略。
Elmore's next project will use radar to help predict bird migrations. "I think that would maybe go a long way in terms of providing information to people, to the public, to building managers, on when they can get the most bang for their buck in terms of lights-out policies."
埃尔莫尔的下一个项目将使用雷达来帮助预测鸟类迁徙。“我认为这也许会在向人们、公众、建筑管理者提供信息方面发挥很大作用，可以告诉在熄灯政策方面如何才能获得最大收益。”
