Migration Awareness 2

This morning Arthur and I are walking our Rescue & Recovery route to look for fallen injured or dead birds that have struck buildings in Chicago during the night and early morning. This is our fifth week volunteering for R&R this spring. During these weeks, I’d like to highlight some of the perils birds face on their migration by sharing a website or information about migratory birds.

FLAP is the Fatal Light Awareness Program, based in Toronto. Their mission: Working to safeguard migratory birds in the urban environment through education, research, rescue and rehabilitation. FLAP volunteers perform R&R in Toronto during migration. The FLAP website provides a wealth of information on preventing bird strikes in general, as well as specific data on the bird-strike situation in Toronto. For example, there is a list of the Top 30 Most Lethal Structures for Bird Collisions in the city. Similar data on the situation in Chicago is also recorded, but I don’t believe it is made public, generally. At Birding America earlier this year we did attend a seminar about the perils of migrating through Chicago, where some of this data was shared. I would like to see it publicized; perhaps some of the worst offenders would be motivated to make bird-friendly adjustments to their buildings.

To raise awareness, FLAP released a booklet last year entitled A Field Guide to Common Birds of Toronto.

The booklet, which is available electronically and can be downloaded here, shows 10 of the more common window-strike victims of the city. They are shown as they would be when found dead on the ground, with field markings and collision information for the species.

Share the birds, share the love!
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