Call to Action: Bird Friendly Design Public Feedback
Reflective glass at a downtown Chicago building, responsible for numerous bird deaths each migration season. Photo by Robyn Detterline.
Ovenbird killed from flying into reflective glass in image at left. Photo by Robyn Detterline.
Dear supporters of the Chicago Ornithological Society:
Release of the new City of Chicago sustainable development policy that would require new projects through the Department of Planning and Development to meet bird-friendly design standards (that we have crafted with the city over the past 7 years) has stalled again with reservations that it will stifle development by adding costs and delays in acquiring bird safety materials.
We cannot wait any longer to stop needless bird deaths occurring to already dwindling avian populations.
Please take the survey below and pass this along to those in the Chicago metro area including (especially) other Chicago residents. Add your comments that reinforce these critical points:
The population of North American birds has dropped nearly 30% since 1970. That's almost three billion birds gone.
Thousands of birds are documented, and tens of thousands more birds are estimated to die every year in Chicago from collisions with dangerous glass building features—something the world became keenly aware of during the mass casualty events downtown and at McCormick Place in October 2023.
Chicago is ranked as posing the greatest threat to migratory birds of any city in the country, and we must therefore take the strongest actions to prevent the deaths of irreplaceable, innocent, and environmentally crucial birds.
Every year of delay implementing bird safety measures has resulted in the construction of more deadly buildings that will kill thousands of birds for decades of each building's existence.
Bird protection is part of essential environmental protection on which the health of our world depends and is a vital priority that overshadows cost and delay concerns.