Toronto Bird Development Guidelines

Toronto Bird Development Guidelines



 
May 2007 - The city of Toronto Thursday 
published its new Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines, a set of practices 
designed to save some of the up to 10 million migratory birds that die 
each year in collisions with Toronto's buildings. 
Urban night lighting attracts birds and poor weather traps them, which 
increases the density of migratory birds in urban areas. More migratory 
birds in the unfamiliar urban environment results in an increased number 
of bird collisions the following day. 

Some fortunate birds are rescued like this Northern waterthrush in hands 
of a volunteer from the Fatal Light Awareness Program, FLAP. The 
organization helped design the new guidelines. 
As well as ways to reduce light pollution, the new guidelines recommend 
design-based development strategies, such as non-reflective glass, 
incorporating visual markers in the first 12 meters above grade, muting 
reflections, redesigning ventilation grates and placing internal greenery 
away from windows. 
Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone said, "The final product is a very attractive 
and informative document that will greatly assist in mitigating the 
dangers the urban environment poses to migrating birds." 
For thousands of years, birds have been migrating through the region where 
Toronto now stands, a city of 2.5 million people on the shore of Lake 
Ontario. 
"The dangers posed to migratory birds by today's urban landscapes are 
relatively new in evolutionary time scales and birds have been unable to 
alter their instinctive behavior in response to this recent product of 
human activity," the guidelines say. 
Humans can tell the difference between the real trees and the reflected 
ones, but birds cannot. 
During their spring and fall migrations, the birds become confused by the 
combination of light pollution and the effects of glass in the urban 
environment and many collide with buildings. 
Architect John Robert Carley, who helped write the guidelines, believes, 
"Our cities are massive obstacles to migrating birds. The implementation 
of the Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines starts a process to make that 
migration journey less perilous. Toronto leads the way, and sets a strong 
precedent for other North American cities to follow." 
Bird populations are dwindling fast in both North and South America and 
cannot evolve quickly enough to adjust to massive urbanization, and 
deforestation they now confront. 
Instead, the guidelines say, "Cities are the key places that the changes 
in human behavior necessary for bird conservation can occur." 
Bird collisions happen for several reasons. Daytime strikes occur because 
birds cannot perceive images reflected in glass as reflections, and so 
will fly into windows that they think are trees or sky. 
Bird-friendly patterned glass 
Birds do not perceive clear glass as a solid object. They will strike 
clear glass while attempting to reach habitat and sky seen through 
corridors, windows positioned opposite each other in a room, ground floor 
lobbies, glass balconies or where glass walls meet at corners. The impact 
of striking a reflective or clear window in full flight often results in 
death. 
Many species fall to the pavement, including cedar waxwings, eastern 
bluebirds, northern flickers, ruby-throated hummingbirds, dark-eyed 
juncos, red-winged blackbirds, at least three types of warblers, 
white-throated sparrows, American robins, and peregrine falcons. 
Migratory birds often travel at night. A combination of light from the 
moon and stars and geomagnetic signals from the Earth provide natural cues 
for direction. Light pollution from urban areas obscures the light from 
the moon and stars. 
Red lights, commonly used on towers and other tall structures, may 
interfere with birds’ ability to track geomagnetic cues. 
The light emitted from urban areas disorients migrating birds and draws 
them into brightly lit downtown areas. Disoriented birds will often fly 
around until exhausted and drop to the ground or they may strike a 
building or window and fall to the pavement. 
If they survive the fall, they must contend with predators such as gulls. 
If not eaten, they are trapped within the unfamiliar built environment. At 
this point they frequently injure themselves while trying to seek shelter 
by flying into the glass surfaces of brightly lit ground level lobbies 
decorated with large trees and or plants. 
Toronto's bright lights disorient many birds and they lose their way. 

At night during rainy, overcast or foggy conditions, the numbers of 
disoriented birds colliding with buildings are at their highest as the 
natural cues birds use to migrate are further obscured. 
The city of Toronto has worked in partnership with the private sector, 
bird advocacy organizations and other levels of government to develop the 
guidelines. 
Toronto Hydro Corporation, the electric utility that supplies power to the 
city, is a supporter of the city's efforts to protect migrating birds. 
"There are multiple winners when you turn off unnecessary lights - your 
wallet, the Toronto Hydro electricity system and our fine feathered 
friends," said Joyce McLean, director of strategic issues, Toronto Hydro 
Corporation. 
The Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines are part of Toronto's Green 
Development Standard, which encourages sustainable site development to a 
standard that will increase energy efficiency, improve water quality, 
improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce waste and 
protect the urban forest and wildlife habitat. 
A bird-friendly building is considered a component of a green development. 

In addition to developing the Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines, the 
City of Toronto launched Lights Out Toronto!, a public awareness campaign 
aimed at drawing attention to this issue and to ways that individuals, 
businesses, property owners and managers can help reduce migratory bird 
deaths. This annual campaign will coincide with the spring migratory 
season mid-March to early June, and the fall migratory season mid-August 
to early November. 
The city government is also participating in the rescue, rehabilitation 
and release of injured migratory birds. In city owned buildings, a 
lights-out policy for after work hours and on weekends has been in place 
since 2005. 
The city is asking all residents of Toronto to help in reducing migratory 
bird deaths - architects, developers, urban designers, planners, building 
owners, managers and tenants can make a positive difference helping to 
ensure the survival of migratory bird populations for future generations.  
  

       
      

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