Sustainable Building Design Can Stop Millions of Birds Deaths

As many as 42 million birds are killed in Canada each year by colliding with glass on buildings. Birds do not understand reflections and fail to detect glass that appears transparent. Collisions can happen anywhere where birds encounter glass windows, balcony railings or transportation shelters, and represent a leading source of bird deaths in the country. However, sustainable building design can provide effective solutions to this problem.

How to Prevent Bird Collisions

Many people don’t realize how often birds collide with windows because they fly away afterwards (likely with injuries). It is easy to treat glass so that birds can detect and avoid crashing into it. Most collisions happen with low-rise buildings and residences, which are the most numerous forms of buildings on the landscape.

To prevent collisions, apply a pattern on glass that birds will notice. It is important that markers cover the entire exterior surface without leaving gaps wider than 5 cm in between the markers. Choose a colour that will stand out from the background – white works well. Solutions for treating windows can be found on FLAP Canada’s website. For drawing on glass, I recommend using paint markers, or try Feather Friendly for a more durable fix.

However, treating one window at a time is not enough: we need strong regulations and enforcement to better protect Canada’s bird populations.

Policies for Bird Safe Buildings

The cheapest and easiest way to prevent birds from colliding with buildings is to design new windows to be safe for birds with markers embedded. The cost of this simple solution is generally negligible. However, most new construction in Canada is not bird safe. Why not?

Designs of some buildings are subject to approval by municipalities. These include commercial, industrial and multi-unit residential buildings with 10 or more units. Only 24 of the 444 municipalities in Ontario have updated by-laws to include guidelines or requirements for bird safe design. Mandatory measures are recommended because voluntary guidelines are not usually followed.

While municipal bylaws apply to certain buildings, building codes apply to all building construction across a province or territory. Provinces and territories hold legal authority to regulate construction through a building code. The federal government sets model codes that provinces and territories are encouraged to adopt and harmonize with their respective codes.

If we want new buildings to be bird safe in the province, the way forward is to embed bird safe design into Ontario’s building code. Municipalities should continue to adopt bird safe design standards such as CSA A460 into their by-laws. All three levels of government should include bird safety in incentives for replacing windows.

Killing Birds is Illegal, But Laws are Not Enforced

In 2013 the Ontario Court of Justice ruled that the Environmental Protection Act and Species at Risk Act prohibit building owners from causing birds to collide with glass. The federal government updated the Migratory Bird Regulations in 2022 to align with the Species at Risk Act. This extended the prohibition on causing collisions to apply to all listed migratory bird species.

Federal recovery strategies for birds listed under the Species at Risk Act such as the Canada Warbler discuss approaches to mitigating window collisions. Yet, the federal government has not fulfilled its own recommended actions such as to “develop regulations and incentives to make windows less prone to bird strikes along migration routes” and instead seems to be downloading responsibility to individual municipalities.

What You Can Do:

There are many ways concerned citizens and groups can take action to help prevent bird collisions with windows, including:

• Sign a new petition urging the provincial and federal governments to incentivize adoption of bird safe building design solutions and to enforce existing regulations.
• Participate in elections to support leaders who prioritize environmental protection.
• Treat glass at home by following guidelines from FLAP Canada.
• Organize to treat windows in your community – check out tips for funding retrofit projects.
• Check if your municipality references bird safe design in its planning bylaws. If it doesn’t, contact your representative or local planning department by sending FLAP’s letter template.
• Support local awareness efforts by monitoring buildings for bird collisions and submitting records to the Global Bird Collision Mapper.

Brendon Samuels recently earned his PhD in the Department of Biology at Western University where he studies strategies for preventing bird-building collisions. Brendon also works with the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) Canada and as the coordinator of Bird Friendly London.