Saving Birds One Window at a Time — Safe Wings Ottawa
Flycatcher
About 360 species of birds travel through and/or live in Ottawa—various sparrows, thrushes, warblers, and woodpeckers, to name just a few. Drawn into downtown by the building lights at night, they try to make their way out of our bustling downtown core in the morning, invisible to busy commuters even after they fall on the sidewalk from colliding with a window. In Ottawa, 250,000 birds are estimated to be killed yearly by colliding with glass. This is unsustainable. Take a walk in downtown Ottawa with Safe Wings to find out why birds collide with windows, which buildings have implemented bird-friendly design and what other buildings, architects, and residents can do to help birds.
Safe Wings Ottawa is a program of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club that works to reduce bird mortality from window collisions through research, rescue, and education. Led by Safe Wings Ottawa volunteer, Janette Niwa, we will explore a part of the downtown core and discuss building features common to many building types that are hazardous for birds. Janette will point out bird-friendly treatments and explain why some are successful, and some are not. Participants will learn why birds collide with windows, and about best practices and strategies they can employ to make their home or workplace safer for these captivating creatures.
Everyone has access to a window, and if we all made a little effort, together we could make a big change for the better to prevent one of the top human causes of bird mortality: window collisions!
Note that May 13, 2023 is World Migratory Bird Day.
Find out more about the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club on the OFNC website.
