Do your part to protect migrating birds this spring

The yellow warbler peeks out coyly from behind a leafy branch. I lift my camera and focus. Suddenly it flits out in the open and releases a series of high-pitched musical notes that waft through the air. I click my shutter and capture the moment. Within seconds it’s gone.

It must have arrived days earlier, after having flown across the ocean from somewhere down south. It’s part of the migrating groups of birds that come to Canada every spring to breed and start a family.

I hope it survives. It has chosen one of the country’s biggest cities for its summer home: Toronto, a city of reflective glass buildings that are responsible for the death of thousands of migrating birds every year.

Windows that reflect the sky and the clouds, can appear invisible to a moving bird. So they continue to fly at high speeds until they smack into the glass and fall to the ground.

Some can survive the impact with a concussion. Many are rescued by compassionate humans. Others are not so lucky. They are found by wandering cats, or they never survive the trauma.

Take a walk around one of the city’s large towers in the coming weeks. That’s where you’ll find the bodies of dead birds, their feet curled up in the air. Notice their brilliant colours. Indigo buntings in their electric blue splendour; warblers with yellow, greens and blue wing markings, and scarlet tanagers with their regal, red feather plumage. They spend days flying across the water so their babies can be born in our city. But some never get as far as building a nest.

There are solutions, however. Easy fixes for corporations whose towers loom over the city are at a minimal cost compared to their high profits. Quotes obtained by contractors indicates the cost to upgrade highrise windows is approximately $9 to $12 per square foot, varying on the size of the building and accessibility to the windows. To change windows in a 30-storey building would be about the quarter of a top executive’s salary.

Another simple, cost-saving solution is to turn off building lights at night. Birds migrate overnight and can be disoriented by bright lights, which makes them prone to collisions.

These are the same companies that brag about “corporate social responsibility” to make themselves more appealing to the public. But they continue to turn their heads when organizations like Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) Canada consistently urge them to change their windows.

Homeowners can still do their part. Birds need to know there is a window on their flight path, so it’s easy to add an obstruction. Hang some beads or decorations in front of the window or rub a bar of soap along the glass so the residue is visible. Sticker decals can also be attached to the glass.

I hope the yellow warbler with the melodious song finds a mate and raises a family. I want to see fluffy, yellow babies. But more than ever, we need them around this year, filling the air with their joyful songs of hope.