别让庆典成为鸟类悲剧
It was like a scene straight out of Alfred Hitchcock.
这就像阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克电影中的一幕。
Late on New Year's Eve 2010, thousands of birds rained from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas.
2010年除夕晚些时候，在阿肯色州的毕比镇，成千上万只鸟从天而降。
Some 5,000 red-winged blackbirds, European starlings, common grackles and brown-headed cowbirds suffered blunt-force trauma after colliding with cars, trees and buildings, an ornithologist from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission would tell National Geographic.
阿肯色州狩猎和渔业委员会的鸟类学家告诉《国家地理》杂志，大约5000只红翅黑鹂、欧洲椋鸟、普通的沙嘴鸟和棕色头的牛头鸟在与汽车、树木和建筑物相撞后遭受了钝力损伤。
Why does it matter now?
这事对如今又有什么影响呢？
The answer is fireworks.
答案就是烟花。
Specifically, the noises that accompany fireworks and pose a threat to birds, according to Ray Brown, host of theTalkin' Birds podcast.
具体来说，伴随烟花而来的噪音对鸟类构成了威胁。
When birds hear the loud boom, they panic and take off, says Brown.
布朗说，当鸟类听到巨大的轰隆声时，它们会惊慌失措，然后起飞。
"And its nighttime, so they can't really see where they're going. So crashes result."
“烟火又是晚上，所以它们看不见自己要去哪里。所以后果很严重。”
And just as experts suspect happened in Arkansas, "When you've got a big roost of birds that take off together, the mayhem multiplies," Brown says.
正如专家们怀疑在阿肯色州发生过的那样，布朗说:“当有一大群鸟一起起飞时，混乱会成倍增加。”
With Fourth of July celebrations approaching, Brown offers this reminder: Birds are just as frightened of fireworks as cats and dogs are.
随着7月4日独立日庆典的临近，布朗提醒人们:鸟类和猫狗一样害怕烟花。
When fireworks explode in the vicinity of a roost, or even around individual birds, the results can be fatal.
当烟花在鸟巢附近爆炸，甚至在个别鸟类周围，结果可能是致命的。
"Birds are spooked by any kind of loud noise," he says.
他说:“任何噪音都会吓到鸟类。”
"But fireworks, of course, are in the air and are especially loud, so I think that's something birds are not really used to coping with. And these things go on for several minutes."
“但是烟花，当然，在空中，特别大声，所以我认为这是鸟类不能习惯应对的事情。这些事情会持续几分钟。”
There have been no mass-scale bird deaths reported as a result of fireworks since the Arkansas event, but in recent years, localities across the world have still documented harm to birds from loud pyrotechnics and taken steps to reduce the impact.
自阿肯色事件以来，还没有大规模鸟类因燃放烟花而死亡的报道，但近年来，世界各地的地方仍然都有记录了燃放烟花对鸟类造成的危害，并采取措施减少影响。
In 2008, for example, federal officials showed that seabirds in the northern California town of Gualala abandoned their nests after a fireworks show, leaving their eggs vulnerable to predators, SF Gate reports.
例如，在2008年，联邦官员显示，在加利福尼亚州北部的瓜拉纳镇，海鸟在烟花表演后放弃了它们的巢穴，使得它们的蛋容易受到捕食者的攻击，SF Gate报道。
The California Coastal Commission halted the town's planned fireworks display in response.
作为回应，加州海岸委员会暂停了该镇原定的烟花表演。
And just last year, the Galapagos banned the sale and use of pyrotechnics.
就在去年，加拉帕戈斯群岛也禁止了烟火的销售和使用。
According to the BBC, conservationists said that fireworks caused elevated heart rates, trembling and anxiety in animals.
据英国广播公司报道，环保人士表示，烟花会导致动物心率加快、颤抖和焦虑。
The ban makes an exception for fireworks without noise.
这项禁令对没有噪音的烟花破例。
"Other places are using laser shows" with live music or virtual shows where laser images of fireworks are projected onto tall buildings, Brown says.
布朗说，“其他地方正在使用激光表演”，包括现场音乐表演或虚拟表演，然后把烟花的激光图像投射到高楼上。
In the English port town of Bideford, the district voted to ban fireworks in the vicinity of a bridge where starlings roost, and the city council proposed a laser show instead.
在英国港口城市比德福德，该地区投票禁止在椋鸟栖息的一座桥附近燃放烟花，市议会提议举行一场激光表演来代替。
Banff, a resort town in Canada, switched to quiet fireworks last year to protect wildlife — as did the Italian town of Collecchio in 2015.
为了保护野生动物，加拿大度假小镇班夫去年改用了安静的烟花，2015年意大利小镇科莱齐奥也是如此。
But there are more risks than just noise.
不过除了噪音之外，还有别的风险。
Viewers watching fireworks from the beach, for example, can trample birds that are still nesting in the summer.
例如，在海滩上观看烟花的观众会踩到夏天还在筑巢的鸟儿。
And used firework shells, now often made out of plastic rather than the traditional bamboo, contribute to high volume of plastic debris on land and in the ocean that threatens birds.
使用过的烟花弹，现在通常是由塑料而不是传统的竹子制成，在陆地和海洋中造成了大量的塑料碎片，也会对鸟类构成威胁。
A 2015 study published in the journal PNAS estimated that 90 percent of seabirds have likely ingested plastics, though Brown says the issue can also affect other birds as well.
2015年发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》(PNAS)上的一项研究估计，90%的海鸟可能摄入了塑料，而且布朗表示，这个问题也会影响其他鸟类。
"And of course when they're eating this plastic, eventually these chicks will starve to death from not having any nutrition," Brown says.
布朗说:“当然，当它们吃下这种塑料的时候，这些小鸟最终会因为没有任何营养而饿死。”
So what do you do if you want to watch fireworks responsibly?
那么，如果你想负责任地看烟花，你会怎么做呢?
Brown says municipalities are more likely to be aware of these dangers than private consumers.
布朗说，市政当局比私人消费者更有可能意识到这些危险。
His best advice is to stick to the shows put on by professionals and local governments, which tend to follow guidelines put forth by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others, about animal safety.
他的最佳建议是坚持由专业人士和地方政府来举办节目，这些节目往往遵循美国鱼类和野生动物管理局等机构提出的有关动物安全的指导方针。
The National Audubon Society offers similar guidelines: "Commercial fireworks are concentrated in one location, rather than in several locations at once, which is what often happens in neighborhoods. This allows birds to take off and land again in a 'safer' location rather than continuing to flee noises coming at them from all directions."
国家奥杜邦协会也提供了类似的指导方针:“商业烟花通常集中在一个地方，而不是同时在几个地方燃放，这在社区中很常见。”这使得鸟类能够在一个'更安全’的地方起飞和降落，而不是继续躲避来自四面八方的噪音。”
问题
文中讨论烟花对鸟类的影响，跟哪一节日的临近有关？
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