Why is McCormick Place controversial? 1000 dead birds in Chicago sparks concern

McCormick Place, North America's largest convention center which is in Chicago, saw a shocking incident on Thursday, October 5, 2023. Thousands of birds died after striking the building, sending chills down the spines of netizens and locals alike, leading them to question why it happened.

The incident occurred as the birds were migrating to the south for their wintering grounds. As they flew, thousands of birds crashed into McCormick Place, which according to The Guardian, is mostly covered in glass. This is something that reportedly confuses birds, who then crash into the glass.

Annette Prince, the Director of Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, spoke about the issue with The Guardian. Prince noted that this was the highest number of bird strikes recorded in a single day, adding that it was just the "tip of the iceberg."

"It’s it’s a huge, huge amount of birds we found both dead and injured," Prince told the publication.

Additionally, Prince noted that thousands of birds were migrating through the area and had to combat a number of issues, apart from McCormick Place's glassy exterior. Annette said that the birds had to deal with a brisk wind along with cloudy skies as they flew.

Brendon Samuels, who researches bird-window collisions at the University of Western Ontario also had a theory about the cause behind the incident. Brendon said that it was likely that the birds collided with the building as it is completely covered in glass. He added that the city of Chicago hasn't really seen the extent of the death of the birds and that they would continue to find the bodies over the next few days as well.

"We often see birds collide with glass and they continue flying some distance away, seriously injured in ways that ultimately they won’t survive past a few hours," Brendon said.

Currently, the Chicago building is in the middle of controversy and experts are weighing in on the issue as several birds collide into the building.

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Why is McCormick's place controversial?

Experts say that since migration season is here, buildings like McCormick need to come up with a plan so that there are no more bird collisions taking place.

Christine Sheppard, director of the glass collisions program for the American Bird Conservancy spoke to the Insider.

"It's just absolutely your worst nightmare. McCormick Place also needs to make changes to protect migrating birds," Sheppard said.

Several other experts also stated that bird collisions are not really a new thing. Annette Prince added that the current weather condition is giving the go-ahead for birds to migrate at this time.

Prince also said that the main reason behind this collision was that the glass building kept its light on on Wednesday, which caused the mass death of birds.

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McCormick denied the claim stating that they had turned the lights off

A spokesperson of the Chicago building said that they turn on the lights of the building at night when someone is present and otherwise, they don't.

Internet users' reaction (Image via snip from X/@shaleez)

Cynthia McCafferty, a spokesperson for McCormick Place also said that the company couldn't confirm if the lights were on or off on the night of October 4, 2023, when the incident took place.