Bird Safe DC

The purpose of this project is to monitor bird window/glass collisions at residential and commercial buildings in Washington, DC, with the help of the public.

As part of the program 'Lights Out DC', initiated by City Wildlife in 2010, volunteers currently monitor three routes in downtown Washington, DC, during the spring and fall migration. But we need your help to document the extent of the problem throughout DC.

While bird-friendly legislation will soon make it mandatory for new buildings in DC to use bird-friendly glass, many existing buildings will continue to pose a threat to migratory birds. Though some birds can be saved, most birds succumb to injuries sustained from colliding with glass, resulting in hundreds / (thousands?) of dead migratory birds each year.

A small number of volunteers already monitor three routes in DC, mostly in the early morning hours; however, bird collisions can occur at any time during the day, and also occur in areas currently not being monitored.

The purpose of this project is, therefore, to encourage anyone from the public to send in their observations of bird window/glass collisions. Months of high intensity migration are April and May for spring and September and October for fall.

With these observations, we will get a more accurate picture of how many collisions occur, and where they are occurring, while creating more awareness about this problem and getting more buildings in DC involved in making their building Bird Safe!

For more information about City Wildlife's program and data collected over the past 12 years, please visit:
https://citywildlife.org/programs/lights-out-dc/

For more information and resources about bird-window collisions and how to prevent them, please visit:
https://abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/why-birds-hit-windows-and-how-you-can-help-prevent-it/
https://www.audubon.org/news/reducing-collisions-glass less ↑