Funding for preventing bird collisions with buildings: current and future prospects
Photos show one of the fifteen buildings on Western University’s campus that have been retrofitted for bird safety since 2019.
The Winding Path of Advocating for Bird Friendly Buildings
By Brendon Samuels If you follow FLAP and are reading this, then you probably care about conserving birds in your community. Unfortunately, there are a lot of buildings already out there, and others still being constructed, that pose a great risk of birds colliding with windows. Until existing building windows are retrofitted, or new buildings […]
The Value of Research in Creating Bird-Friendly Campuses
High collision mortality documented during winter and migration spurs conservation action at the University of British Columbia. By Krista De Groot Most collision research has occurred during fall and spring migration in the eastern half of North America, creating both a seasonal and a regional bias in published results. However, after conducting collision research across […]
Balcony Birding: A Great Way to Enjoy Birds While We Stay Home
By Monika Croydon Balcony birding is the hot new hobby! No traveling or social distancing required, with easy access to food, drinks, and washrooms. Lockdowns don’t stop the birds from migrating! Now that we in Ontario are back to a stay-at-home directive, it’s even more important to be able to watch birds safely. I’m very […]
A Lesson From a Fallen Star: How a Warbler Taught Me to Give Back
By Michal Zhitomirsky “It’s like Pokémon GO, but in real life!” The above is my standard attempt to explain my enthusiasm for bird watching to my loved ones, who typically respond with a polite smile and vacant eyes. Bird watching has been my favourite activity for three years, and is especially rewarding during the pandemic […]
Mitigating Glass Railings
By John Carley All FLAP volunteers and supporters are well aware of the dangers windows present to birds, but all too often we forget about other architectural uses of glass. You’ve probably seen the ad, or one similar – Undisturbed, natural, beautiful – extolling the virtues of frameless glass railings for your home or cottage. […]
Keep Cats Safe and Save Bird Lives
By Ted Cheskey and Aly Hyder Ali, Nature Canada In 2013, Canadian Bird Scientist Peter Blanchard authored one of several scientific papers, published in the Journal Avian Ecology and Conservation on human-related causes of bird mortality. The papers quantified a spectrum of human-related causes of bird mortality, using the best science available. The result was […]
Backyards for Birds
By Irene Fedun, Founding Member of FLAP Canada As a founding member of the Fatal Light Awareness Program, I am all too familiar with the painful thud of a bird hitting a window….at the glass towers of downtown Toronto. I’d never known – and never expected – a bird to hit a window in […]
Eyes on the Road Ahead: Using Bird Vision to Prevent Collisions with Windows
By Brendon Samuels Whether you’re a human driving a car or a bird migrating across a continent, navigating safely at high speed requires awareness of visual signals in the environment. Fortunately for humans, signals along roads and highways are designed to be highly conspicuous so drivers can easily spot them. For example, road signs are […]