Pictured above: Event participants took part in a guided walking tour of campus birds where they spotted five bird species (Red Shafted Northern Flicker, Hammond’s Flycatcher, Song Sparrow, Black Capped Chickadee and Mallard).
Recently, the SEEDS Sustainability Program, AMS Sustainability, and the UBC Birding Club hosted a special event that brought together bird enthusiasts from across campus to learn about the many bird species that call UBC home—and what we can do to protect them.
For the Love of Birds! Bird Walk and Design event took place on October 22nd as an opportunity for the campus community to learn more about the birds that make UBC their home. They also learned how window art can be an effective strategy for mitigating bird strikes and were able to create their own nature-inspired stencils.
About Bird Friendly Building Design on Campus
Bird strikes occur in urban areas, including at UBC, when birds mistake reflections for an open sky or trees or see transparent glass as a flight path. Each year, an estimated 10,000 birds die at UBC after colliding with clear or reflective glass. Nationwide, collisions account for 16 to 42 million bird deaths annually, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
UBC’s Bird Friendly Design Guidelines provide practical, cost-effective ways to reduce collisions through better design and materials. The guidelines are mandatory for all new campus construction and major renewal projects, while existing buildings can be improved through simple, community-led retrofits.
Explore the Bird Friendly Toolkit to learn how you can support safer building designs and create your own low-cost, bird-safe window art, with local nature-inspired stencils (page 13 of the toolkit).