Bird-skyscraper collisions

Bird-skyscraper collisions are a problem in urban areas. Several major cities like Toronto in Canada and New York City in the United States have programs to abate this, such as Toronto's Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) and New York City's Lights Out New York, a program of New York City Audubon an environmental organization. According to FLAP, between one and nine million birds die each year in the city from hitting skyscrapers due to mistaking reflective windows for open sky, or being drawn to lights at night.[1]

Legislation

Governments of Canada and the United States have recently introduced legislation to make new and existing buildings bird friendly. Examples include Toronto's Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines[2] that requires new buildings to be bird friendly, Chicago's Design Guide For Bird-Safe Buildings New Construction And Renovation,[3] New York's Bird Friendly-Buildings Act[4] that will require new and existing building be bird friendly effective Jan 1, 2012. On the Federal level the Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2011[5] calls for each public building constructed, acquired, or altered by the General Services Administration (GSA) to incorporate bird-safe building materials and design features. The legislation would require GSA to take similar actions on existing buildings, where practicable.

Solutions

Recent developments in legislation necessitate architects and property managers to take mitigating measures to combat the bird collision issue. There are a variety of different solutions including special window film,[6] specialized glass, decals, screens and external shutters. Some of these solutions have been proven to significantly reduce bird collisions with buildings, but some are unproven and testing is required to prove the claims made for some.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Archived March 23, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ "Environment" (PDF). Toronto.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  3. ↑ Archived September 27, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "S4204-2011 - NY Senate Open Legislation - Enacts the "bird-friendly buildings act" to require use of bird-friendly building materials and design features in buildings - New York State Senate". M.nysenate.gov. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  5. ↑ "Text of H.R. 1643 (112th): Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2011 (Introduced version)". GovTrack.us. 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  6. ↑ "Feather Friendly Bird Deterrent Window Films | Protecting Our Feathered Friends". Featherfriendly.org. Retrieved 2015-10-04.

External links


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