When Worlds Collide (2024) is an award-winning photograph by Patricia Homonylo showing 4000 birds killed by collisions with buildings in the Greater Toronto Area. A similar layout of birds collected from several Ontario cities is scheduled at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa on March 13.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nature Groups and Bird Friendly Cities Bring Bird Species at Risk to Ottawa,
Renew Call for Incentives and Enforcement to Prevent Fatal Bird Collisions With Buildings.
Safe Wings Ottawa releases a joint letter with FLAP Canada pushing for the government to fulfill its legal mandate to protect migratory birds and Species at Risk.
03/03/25
Unceded Algonquin Territory — Ottawa, ON | March 3, 2025
Safe Wings Ottawa and FLAP Canada are showcasing massive public support for protecting bird Species at Risk by sending a joint letter to the Ontario and federal environment ministers, urging them to clarify regulatory enforcement procedures and provide incentives to buildings to support the mitigation of bird collisions. Both Safe Wings Ottawa and FLAP Canada are non-profits focused on reducing bird-glass collisions through monitoring, rescue, education and rehabilitation. This letter is also co-signed by advocates across the country known as “Bird Friendly City teams”. The letter underscores widespread support for protecting North America’s bird populations.
“Safe Wings Ottawa, FLAP Canada, and teams from Bird Friendly Cities across Canada are standing together to demand urgent action to prevent further ruthless bird deaths,” said Michael Mesure, FLAP Canada. “This collaboration at the doorstep of Canada’s Parliament represents a powerful collective voice calling on our leaders to prioritize made-in-Canada solutions for the biodiversity crisis by establishing robust incentives and enforcement processes.”
This letter coincides with Safe Wings Ottawa’s annual bird layout held at the Canadian Museum of Nature on March 13. This year, for the first time in the event’s history, migratory birds and bird Species at Risk killed by collisions with buildings are being brought to Ottawa from Bird Friendly Cities across Ontario to raise awareness of the need for more interjurisdictional collaboration.
The federal government has a legal mandate to prevent bird-glass collisions
While Canada has established legal liability for buildings that kill birds, it is unclear how the federal government enforces prohibitions, if at all. The federal Migratory Bird Regulations were updated in 2022 to specify that window collisions are included in prohibitions on killing of birds, but without enforcement, these changes won’t solve the problem of collisions.
The Species at Risk Act similarly prohibits building owners from killing listed species. Recovery strategies for birds such as the Golden-winged Warbler and Canada Warbler identify regulations and incentives for preventing building collisions as management priorities, yet there are no incentives to help building owners and consumers cover the cost of treating their glass. Meanwhile, the U.S. provides a $500 federal tax credit through Form 5695 that covers certain bird safe window treatments, further underscoring the need for Canada to act.
Why preventing bird collisions matters
Each year, tens of millions of birds are killed across Canada by colliding with glass on buildings and transportation railings and shelters. Simple solutions such as marking glass on existing buildings and new construction can help to prevent these deaths. The 2024 State of Canada’s Birds Report shows that over a third of bird species in Canada have declined significantly since 1970, and identifies collisions with windows as a leading threat.
Each time a bird is killed by a preventable collision with a window, we lose the value of all the services that bird would provide over its interrupted lifespan as well as its potential to reproduce.
Birds provide numerous services that Canadians depend on. From eating pest insects that drive up costs of agriculture and harm human health, to scattering seeds that will grow into trees and help us to fight climate change, birds play extraordinarily diverse and important roles on the landscape here in Canada and throughout their international migratory ranges. Collisions with glass impact birds indiscriminately, including the old and weak as well as young, healthy adult birds of breeding age, and therefore cause lasting, intergenerational effects on bird populations.
Birds are significant in Canadian communities as well as in Indigenous cultures throughout Turtle Island. Millions of Canadians participate in birdwatching, bird feeding, hunting and ecotourism activities that depend on healthy bird populations. Birds are intrinsically valuable as living beings and linkages between ecosystems throughout the world.
“Many of Canada’s bird species are showing worrisome downward trends, and even once common birds are declining in numbers. Window collisions are a major killer of birds, but one that we can effectively address, with support from all levels of government.”
- Safe Wings Ottawa
“Birds are essential contributors to our ecosystem, deserving of protection through proactive legislation and thoughtful building design choices.These choices come with a price tag. The Canadian Parliament must recognize that implementing cost incentives for bird collision deterrence is not merely an environmental obligation, but a critical investment in the future of biodiversity and sustainable development.”
- Michael Mesure, Executive Director, FLAP Canada
“Municipalities participating in the federally-supported Bird Friendly Cities program cannot backfill for neglected responsibilities of higher levels of government to prevent bird collisions with buildings and resulting damage to our environment. While the federal government is not enforcing legal prohibitions on killing of migratory birds and species at risk, and provinces that regulate building construction industries fail to meet objectives of their building codes to prevent harms to the environment, there are presently no incentives available to help municipalities and building owners to limit this critical and widespread threat to Canada’s biodiversity. Continued inaction is unacceptable: we have solutions and it’s past time for Canada to implement them.”
- Dr. Brendon Samuels, Chair, Bird Friendly London
“Several members of the Bird Friendly City Toronto team are volunteer FLAP building patrollers. As individuals we do what we can to document bird collisions, and to help the few birds that survive. But much more needs to be done at every level of government to protect birds from this threat, and the other threats that they face, in our cities.”
- Diana Turchin, Chair, Bird Friendly Toronto
“Every year, tens of millions of birds die each year from window collisions across Canada. This is a leading cause of bird mortality that we have the power to prevent. Bird Safe Guelph urges all levels of government to take meaningful action by implementing stronger regulations, bird-safe building standards, and financial incentives to protect birds and our shared environment for generations to come.”
- Sarah Mueller, Coordinator, Bird Safe Guelph
“Bird Friendly Ottawa is acutely aware that all levels of government – federal, provincial and municipal – need to work together to reduce threats to birds and strengthen environmental protections. The City of Ottawa’s Bird Safe Design Guidelines are a step in the right direction, but they are not enough! As Canada’s national capital, we have the capacity to reduce the threat of our city’s built environment, which is estimated to kill 250,000 birds each year. Ottawa City Council can immediately implement the High Performance Development Standards: Dark Sky lighting, Bird Safe Design and incentives for retrofitting – all are critical to reducing the impact of bird window collisions. The time is now to show leadership and ensure Ottawa is truly a Bird Friendly City.”
- Deborah Doherty, Co-chair, Bird Friendly Ottawa
These organizations are calling on provincial and federal governments to work together to address collisions with buildings as a leading source of preventable bird deaths. The federal government has a mandate to protect species at risk and migratory birds through enforcement of the Species at Risk Act and Migratory Bird Regulations. There is an urgent need for incentives to enable retrofits of buildings required to comply with provincial and federal laws that prohibit killing of birds.
Safe Wings Ottawa is an initiative of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club to reduce bird mortality from window collisions through research, prevention and rescue. For the first time, Safe Wings is collaborating on its annual layout event with the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) Canada from Toronto, and Bird Friendly City teams from Toronto, London and Guelph, Ontario, with migratory birds and species at risk killed by collisions brought to Ottawa from across the province.
Please join these organizations at the Canadian Museum of Nature on Thursday March 13, 2025 at 4:00 until 8:00pm.
For more information, please contact:
Janette Niwa
or Autumn Jordan
