Ottawa city council is set to consider guidelines for protecting birds, almost 15 years after Toronto and Vancouver adopted their own. 

“The City of Ottawa has their own design guidelines that are now in the draft form,” said Anouk Hoedeman of Safe Wings Ottawa, a local initiative aimed at reducing bird mortality from window collisions. Hoedeman and her organization has been spearheading the Ottawa push for more stringent standards. The guidelines will govern such things as landscaping, siting and building design and lighting. The public can comment on the proposal until Friday.

The progress in the city comes one year after the release of the latest, staggering scientific evidence showing just how devastating the built environment is for North American bird populations.

The 2019 State of the Birds Report by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, a group of government agencies and advocacy groups allied to protect birds, showed a 30-per-cent decline in overall bird populations across North America over the past 50 years.

“NABCI partners have developed strategies to reduce the anthropogenic (or human-caused)
threats to birds beyond habitat loss,” the report states, “with proposals for addressing feral cat colonies on public lands, reducing collisions through bird-friendly building codes, and transitioning to green energy through bird-friendly wind and solar energy development.”

In Canada, the NABCI initiative showed severe population declines — about 50 per cent — among grassland species, shorebirds and “aerial insectivores,” birds such as barn swallows that feed mainly by catching bugs in flight.

Meanwhile, the Canadian numbers also offered proof that conservation efforts can make a difference, with once-devastated populations of waterfowl and birds of prey continuing to show signs of recovery.

It’s estimated that more than a billion birds die every year as a result of human activity, with collisions being the second highest human-related cause of death. Pet cats, the top threat to birds, are also exacting a colossal toll. 

“That’s billion with a ‘B,’” said Hoedeman. “Birds colliding with glass is a huge problem.”

“We estimated that this kills about a quarter of a million birds per year in the Ottawa area — just based on what scientists know about the average number of collisions per building per year, and the number of buildings that there are in Ottawa.”

Hoedeman said Safe Wings has been working for years on getting the city to develop bird-friendly design guidelines to help make new developments safer for birds. The main initiative focuses on using less glass to help minimize the risk of collision. 

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