Serving the Glebe community since 1973
TFI@glebereport www.glebereport.ca
ISSN 0702-7796 Vol. 47 No. 4 Issue no. 513 FREE
PHOTO: KAREN CHRISTINA YOUNG
April 19, 2019
PHOTO: ANOUK HOEDEMAN
Saving birds, one window at a time Safe Wings’ 2019 display at City Hall of birds killed by buildings in Ottawa Blackburnian Warbler in Safe Wing’s care
By Janette Niwa
It’s a story Safe Wings Ottawa hears often: A bird crashes into a window, remains stunned for a while then flies away. So it’s fine, right? Wrong. Despite what many believe, birds that manage to fly away after a window collision are rarely okay. Almost all are concussed and most suffer internal injuries such as brain bleeds, impaired vision, severe bruising and more. Those that fly away often die later, become easy prey, or starve because they can no longer find food. An initiative of the Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club, Safe Wings is tackling the problem of bird collisions with a team of volunteers who monitor buildings looking for dead birds, rescuing live ones and collecting data on each collision so we can prove there’s a problem!
We raise awareness and encourage everyone to contribute to our research by reporting collisions. We advocate for bird-safe buildings in the Ottawa area and convince building owners and operators to retrofit hazardous windows to make them safer. With help from the public, our volunteers also rescue injured birds and provide short-term care until they can be released or transferred to the Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre. Scientists estimate that one billion birds die in North America from window collisions each year, including about 25 million in Canada. In Ottawa, collisions with glass kill an estimated 250,000 birds every year. This is not sustainable! Safe Wings began collecting data in 2014 when we documented 550 collisions from 68 species. In 2018, we documented 3,153 collisions across 111 species, of which only 616 birds
were last seen alive, either rehabilitated and released or never captured, 76 left only an imprint on the window as evidence and 2,461 birds were found dead or died in care. Our annual total continues to grow thanks to more volunteers and public support, not to mention new glass structures adding to the problem. Also last year, Safe Wings founder and rehabber Anouk Hoedeman provided short-term care to 743 injured birds at her home in the Glebe. Why is glass so dangerous to these birds? They don’t understand it because there are no comparable clear or reflective vertical surfaces in nature. So when a bird sees trees reflected in a window, it thinks they are real. If it sees vegetation on the other side of transparent glass, for example through parallel or corner windows or indoor plants, it does not know there is an invisible, lethal bar-
rier. Many birds move as fast as 50 km/hour in regular flight. Think of a 215-pound hockey player hitting the boards at 20 to 30 km/hour without a helmet or other safety equipment. Now think of the damage to a 77-gram American Robin or a 10-gram Blackcapped chickadee. The good news is that we’re making progress! The federal government, the National Capital Commission and the City of Ottawa are all developing bird-friendly design guidelines and starting to make their buildings safer for birds. Residents are applying Feather Friendly and other solutions to prevent collisions at home. The bad news is that we’re just scratching the surface. The City of Ottawa’s long-promised bird-friendly design guidelines are still not in place and new “bird-unfriendly” glass Continued on page 2
WHAT’S INSIDE
MARK YOUR CALENDARS Apr. 23...................Glebe Community Association meeting, 7 p.m., GCC Apr. 24.............. Grow Smart Talks speaker series − Coming Out Workshop, GCC, 7 p.m. Apr. 29–May 4......The Government Inspector, Canterbury High School May 1....................Gil’s Hootenanny, Clark Hall, RA Centre, 7:30 p.m. May 4....................Ottawa Centre Refugee Action fundraiser, Beyond the Pale, City Centre May 5....................Jane’s Walk in Glebe South: Trees You Need to See, 10:30 a.m. May 9....................Glebe Collegiate’s door-to-door CHEO Drive. May 11..................Counterfeit! Ottawa Baroque Consort, Glebe St. James UC, 7:30 p.m.
Great Glebe Garage Sale...... pages 2 and 3
May 21..................Glebe Report Association AGM, GCC, 7 p.m.
NEXT ISSUE: Friday, May 17, 2019 EDITORIAL DEADLINE: Friday, April 26, 2019 ADVERTISING ARTWORK DEADLINE*: Wednesday, May 1, 2019 GMSBannerAdGRFinal.pdf 1 2019-01-24 8:43 PM
May 25..................Great Glebe Garage Sale Jun 1, 2.................Capital Spokes Bike Rally & Rodeo, Windsor Park
IF YOU CAN DREAM IT WE CAN MAKE IT!
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McCrank’s on the move........... page 6