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70 <br />Three factors influence bird tower mortality. First, lit towers over 200 feet in <br />height attract migrating birds, particularly if the structure uses red strobe warning <br />lights with a short, regular pulsing rate. Secondly, electromagnetic towers emit <br />energy in the .microwave spectrum, which may disrupt migrating bird's ability to <br />navigate at night, by creating force fields and resonating with avian magnetite, <br />the bird's internal navigation system. Finally, the towers pose.a physical obstacle <br />in which birds can become entangled or into which they may collide. <br />Vulnerable migratory species breed during the spring and summer in North <br />America and migrate to the southern states, the Caribbean, or Central and South <br />America during the fall and winter. They generally fly at night and are most <br />susceptible to tower collisions during misty, foggy, rainy, or low -cloud <br />atmospheric. conditions. During these inclement weather conditions, .migratory <br />birds seem to switch from their innate, nighttime navigational abilities to visual <br />reckoning. They can become attracted, more accurately, they are reluctant to <br />leave the lit area of red, pulsing navigational strobe lights, continue to fly around <br />the lit tower, and often collide with or become entangled with the tower and tower <br />guy wires. <br />Migration occurs over a broad front in May and September - October across the <br />Triangle region. According to conversations with local ornithologists, there are no <br />organized, consistent migratory flight pattems in Orange County. Most species <br />migrate evenly across the County and can stop wherever there are woods or <br />water, according to the local experts. <br />Neighboring Towers. <br />There are six telecommunication towers within two.miles of the PEMC site. They <br />are a: <br />1. 157' monopole on Old NC 10, <br />2. 160' guyed tower on NC 86, <br />3. 178' monopole in Hillsborough, <br />4. 160' monopole on Landau Dr. <br />5. 254' lattice tower on New Hope Church Road, and <br />6. 180' monopole on Palmers Grove Church Road. <br />Piedmont's consultants evaluated each individually and collectively to determine <br />if they could serve as co- locations for the two -way trunked radio communication <br />system. The proposed. radio reception service area is reduced by 30% by doing <br />so. Please refer to the attached scenario map. <br />Historic Properties. <br />Planning staff is in receipt of an August 25, 2006 memorandum from Rich Shaw <br />and Tina Moon, ERCD staff, states that there are two historic sites within a one <br />and one -half mile radius of the Piedmont property (Blackwelder Service Station <br />and Rigsbee's Rock House). Both properties will be somewhat visually shielded <br />from the tower by the 1 -85 corridor. <br />