Nature often comes into conflict with society, and companies and groups involved in this incompatibility will attempt to assimilate their products and/or services with the natural world, or at least the public's perception of it. This creates interesting features of cell phone towers and other antennas masquerading as trees, confusing many who pass by to see them. One explanation for making a cell phone tower (or cell tower) into a tree is to reduce its danger to birds. These large cell phone towers are currently causing widespread bird tragedies as birds attack them to deadly effect. This phenomenon is known as a towerkill, and it occurs at a very high rate. Unfortunately, the claims haven't actually diminished since cell phone providers started disguising their cell towers as trees, and there's little evidence that camouflaged trees are doing birds any favors
In fact, tree-covered cell towers are really just for people. Telecommunications companies began camouflaging these structures in response to public scrutiny about their appearance and the underlying fears associated with their existence when they first emerged. Since then, disguising cell phone towers has become common practice. The main problem here, however, is that to many people, these cell towers don't look like trees. Rather than blending into the canopy, the beautifully decorated towers already tower above many nearby trees and are said to stand out more than ordinary cellphone towers. Also, their cost does add to what a lot of people don't think will work. All the additions to the tower to change its appearance cost up to $150,000, four times the price of a bare tower. Complaints about these tree-like towers don't necessarily suggest that they failed as camouflage, however. The molded metal and plastic parts used to hide the tower look exactly like the bark, branches, needles or leaves of the tree, especially from a distance. Because of this, and the many variations that exist in their design, it's likely that most people, even those who complain about them, don't notice the many camouflaged towers they pass by. Whether or not these cell towers masquerading as trees are fooling anyone, they do not inhibit any function as a telecommunications structure. According to Larson Camouflage, a well-known company that camouflages cell towers and other structures, all of its products comply with relevant International Code Council (ICC) and telecommunications standards.
