David Willard has been checking the grounds of Chicago's lakefront exhibition center for dead birds for 40 years. Researchers estimate hundreds of millions of birds die in window strikes in the United States each year. When they see plants or bushes through windows or reflected in them, they head for them, killing themselves in the process. Pre-dawn rain forced the birds to drop to lower altitudes, where they found the McCormick Center’s lights on, Willard said. The first buildings at McCormick Center were constructed in 1959.

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Persons: David Willard, ”, Willard, we've, Matt Igleski, it's, Stan Temple, They’ve, Temple, they’ve, “, McCormick, Anna Pidgeon, ” Willard Organizations: Chicago Field Museum, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, U.S . Fish, Wildlife Service, Chicago Audubon Society, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin -, University of Wisconsin - Madison ., World Trade Center, National Audubon Society, McCormick Center Locations: McCormick, United States, U.S, Galveston , Texas, Chicago, Madison, Michigan, University of Wisconsin - Madison, New York City, Toronto , New York, Boston, San Diego, Dallas, Miami