Recommended Best Practices for Communication Tower Design, Siting, Construction, Operation, Maintenance, and Decommissioning

Communication towers are some of the tallest structures across the landscape and birds are regularly found dead around these towers (Longcore et al. 2012a). It is not definitively understood why this mortality occurs, but evidence suggests that night‐migrating songbirds are either attracted to or disoriented by tower obstruction warning lighting systems, especially during overcast (i.e., low cloud ceiling), foggy, or other low visibility conditions (Cochran and Graber 1958, Avery et al. 1976, Ball et al. 1995, Erickson et al. 2005, Evans et al. 2007, Manville 2014, Gehring et al. 2009 and 2011, Longcore et al. 2012a).