The last post by Dan Ross this week – at least as guest editor. Dan will still be contributing to PT from his North Shore perspective.
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I had the privilege of volunteering with the US Audubon Society in New York, housed in the gorgeous Masonic building on 23rd Street. Volunteers were charged with checking “high kill zones” during peak-migration periods for songbirds. New York City is situated directly on a major migration corridor as birds use an ancient fjord – the Hudson River – to guide their way.
The high-kill building I surveyed yielded shocking results. Every day I collected dozens of gorgeous songbirds off the sidewalk next to a post-office depot building. Because it was a government building, it was a long process to get them to change their exterior even after we realized the cause of the problem: windows at treetop level, next to a park, mirrored.
Reflected habitat = lots of dead birds
Exhausted birds spot a green patch and float in for a rest and instead slam into a mirror reflecting the beautiful trees – mirrored windows that had no doubt been installed to make an otherwise boring building exterior reflect those trees for the benefit of the people. Sound familiar?
Dead bird
Birds evolved and migrated for thousands of years before glass and mirrored windows were invented, long before the first skyscrapers. Architects may consider humans when they create buildings and urban spaces, but they rarely consider the impacts on wildlife.
Some cities, notably Chicago, call themselves a “green city” and attempt to consider the impact on animals and ecology when a new building goes up. But in most cities it’s still a mere afterthought. Chicago has even instituted practices that turns off the lights that might throw off the wildlife traveling at night or waste energy.
The City of Vancouver has developed an entire bird strategy, taking special note of building collisions and referring designers and architects to the Bird Friendly Building Design Guidelines by the American Bird Conservancy.
City of Vancouver Bird Strategy
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With all of the clear, green-shaded glass I see downtown and in Yaletown, it’s unclear how closely these guidelines are being followed. Has the City followed up with legislation or more stringent review prior during a proposed building’s approval – or are the bird-friendly guidelines just nice recommendations?
