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Jackman Hall Kills Birds

Window-collisions cause the death of millions of birds a year in Canada. The law school campus building windows currently contribute to this serious ecological threat despite low-cost solutions to prevent bird deaths being available.

A couple of weeks ago, I was exiting the law school with two of my friends through Jackman’s east entrance when my one friend pointed in horror to a deceased sparrow lying on the steps. “What is happening?!”, she exclaimed, “I swear I see different dead birds at this exit nearly every week!” I paused, dusted off my animal biology degree, and looked up. The reason for all the bird casualties was clear. The birds had been crashing into the glass wall adjacent to the walkway. If the poor birds survived the initial impact, then they would be faced with an up-to three-story fall onto the concrete below, followed by the risk of being trampled by foot traffic. The birds simply didn’t stand a chance.  

Jackman Hall’s east entrance passes below an exceptionally large mirrored surface that has directly led to multiple bird deaths. Credit: Credit: Olivia Schenk

Window collisions are one of the top sources of human-caused bird mortality. In Canada, window collisions kill 16 to 42 million migratory birds a year. The death of a bird is particularly sad when you consider that most birds raise their young and many mate for life. When a bird dies, it can mean their mate and/or babies are abandoned. 

Birds are very intelligent animals. The group of birds known as corvids—including crows, ravens, and blue jays—are one of the smartest. Corvids have been shown to memorize human faces for years, create and use tools, and interact with sophisticated communication systems. The intelligence of crows has been compared to that of seven-year-old human children

If birds are so smart, why do they die in window collisions? Birds lack the instinct to navigate a world of windows. Birds are ancient, but glass is not. The ancestors of modern birds lived approximately 130 million years ago. Glass windows have only been around for about two thousand years. While some birds who live around buildings year-round can learn the dangers of glass, migratory birds that only live in cities seasonally or birds who are young are at the greatest risk. It is especially challenging to learn the dangers of glass from trial and error when your first mistake with a window will likely be your last. 

It is important to prevent bird deaths because birds are an essential part of the ecosystem. Birds assist in pollination, pest control, and seed dispersal. A local bird pollinator is the ruby-throated hummingbird. These beautiful little birds winter in Mexico and Central America and spend the warmer months in the eastern United States and southern Canada. Many birds also eat insect pests like mosquitoes and biting flies. A single barn swallow can consume 60 insects per hour. That’s 25,000 insects per month! In addition, many seeds are designed to be spread by birds through their droppings. A study from the Center for Ecological Research in Hungary examined 507 droppings from waterfowl, including mallards and Canadian Geese, and recovered over 900 intact seeds. These seeds were later germinated in the lab setting to prove their continued viability after passing the bird’s guts

Windows can be easily modified to be bird-safe. The trick is breaking up the solid sheet of glass into smaller sections a bird won’t attempt to pass through. This can be done in many ways. New windows can have acid-etched designs, currently available in a variety of attractive patterns. Existing windows can have film applied containing a uniform series of small dots or a “one-way” film making the external view of the window opaque.

Lawmakers have finally begun to address the problem of bird-window collisions. Bill 145, the “Bird-Safe Windows Act”, passed its First Reading and is currently awaiting a Second Reading. If adopted, the Act would modernize the Ontario Building Code to protect wildlife and the natural environment by mandating simple, affordable changes to materials used in building construction. Furthermore, since 2010, new buildings in Toronto have been required to include design features that reduce bird collision deaths. 

Specific initiatives to reduce bird-window collisions on university campuses have also emerged. For example, in 2019, after three years of lobbying efforts by ornithologist Professor Bridget Stutchbury and her students, York University spent $90,000 to buy and install bird-friendly patterns on several windows with the highest bird collision rates.

Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) Canada is a registered Canadian charity focused on the issue of bird-building collisions. FLAP developed Bird-Safe Campus to assist students and faculty of universities in pursuit of a collision-free campus. 

At St.George campus, FLAP group Birdsafe U of T formed in 2022. Birdsafe U of T is actively focused on data collection, advocacy, and outreach. In 2023, Birdsafe UofT collaborated with Victoria College to paint beautiful bird friendly sketches of trees on the glass of the E.J. Pratt Library windows. If you’d like to get involved, check out Birdsafe UofT’s facebook page located at https://www.facebook.com/BirdSafeUofT. The group can also be contacted over email at birdsafeuoft@gmail.com

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