This morning, a deeply unsettling occasion unfolded simply steps away from my workplace. I had been delivering Hen Pleasant Metropolis Certificates for the Atmosphere Minister’s signature — another step in our collective effort to guard birds from city hazards — once I grew to become an unwitting witness to the very factor I work to forestall.
As I approached our workplace on Financial institution Road, a sudden commotion of high-pitched misery calls caught my consideration. I appeared up simply in time to see a chook fall from the sky, touchdown a few metres forward of me on the sidewalk. A second larger chook flew off. I rushed ahead to discover a younger male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, nonetheless alive however fading shortly. Gently cradling him in my hand, I watched him take his remaining breaths earlier than succumbing to his accidents.
Picture: The Grosbeak that hit Nature Canada’s workplace window.
I couldn’t assist however surprise: Was this chook struck down by a predator, or had it collided with one of many many glass home windows within the very constructing the place I work to advocate for his or her safety? After locking up my bike, I introduced the chook upstairs and, on a hunch, went to examine the Financial institution Road facet of our places of work. My worst fears had been confirmed. There, on the window subsequent to a colleague’s desk, was the unmistakable imprint of the chook’s affect. A couple of feathers from the unsuspecting sufferer remained, a reminder of the devastating collision that ended with the Grosbeak’s tragic demise.
The irony couldn’t be starker. I had spent my morning championing chook security, but right here, within the shadow of our personal workplace—an area the place we work to guard them—one other chook had fallen sufferer to one of many very threats we struggle towards.
This incident is only one instance of an unlimited and rising downside in all cities. A new examine estimates that over one billion birds succumb to bird-building collisions in North America.
Picture: Protected Wings Ottawa Collisions in Kanata – August, 2024
Over the previous few days, I’ve seen an inflow of migratory birds in my yard in Gatineau — a transparent signal of the autumn migration. My colleague, Autumn Jordan, informed me that Protected Wings Ottawa has been discovering massive numbers of useless birds round mid-size glass and metal workplace buildings in Kanata, a lot of them Rose-breasted Grosbeaks just like the one I held immediately. These birds, drawn to metropolis lights throughout their nighttime migrations, discover themselves confused and disoriented in city environments. Thousands and thousands of birds in Canada die from window collisions, whereas others fall prey to predators or scavengers.
It’s a bitter irony for somebody like me, who has devoted an enormous chunk of my life to creating cities safer for birds, to witness such a tragedy firsthand — proper on the doorstep of the group that strives to forestall these very deaths. This second serves as a stark reminder that we nonetheless have way more work to do.
Take Motion For Birds and Assist Us Flip Tragedy into Change
The tragic demise of this younger Grosbeak is a reminder of the merciless risks city environments pose to birds — however it’s additionally a name to motion. We’ve the ability to cut back these risks, whether or not by implementing bird-friendly glass therapies, lowering mild air pollution, or pushing for stronger protecting insurance policies.
Assist us in our mission to make cities safer for birds. Assist us flip these moments of tragic irony into lasting change.
